Make sure that when you say "context", you're not thinking "scalar" and "list" context. Those don't apply here. Read on... 
print FOO $bar;

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Puts the contents of $bar on the filehandle FOO. We're all clear on that. 
print(FOO $bar);

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Does exactly the same thing in a nicely Perl 4-ish way. Perl's parser knows that the first argument to print (regardless of the parens) might be a filehandle which won't be comma-separated from the first thing to be printed. Now: 
print(Package::FOO $bar);

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Falls into the same trap. You're just specifying the package that the filehandle is in. The solutions: 
print +(Package::FOO $bar);

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The + tells the parser that the parens don't go with the print (and therefore the Package::FOO) and they're just grouping. So the parser isn't looking for a filehandle anymore. The Package::FOO gets used with indirect object syntax. 
print(Package::FOO($bar));

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The parser doesn't see a first-argument space-separated from the things to be printed and knows that Package::Foo is Something Else. (Later it'll know it's a function call.) 
print(&Package::FOO $bar);

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Same goes here, the parser doesn't see a filehandle here and knows that it shouldn't go looking here for one.

I hope that helps. More importantly I hope my lack-of-sleep answer didn't cause more questions than answered...

In reply to Re: Re: (jeffa) Re: 'print' puzzle by clintp
in thread 'print' puzzle by John M. Dlugosz

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