map typically returns the number of elements that are in your original list. How does map return fewer elements? --By using a test and upon failure return an empty list, "()" because undef, 0 (zero), or leaving off the empty list all create extra elements in the list.

I recently had a need to splice an array into 4 element array refs. Here's an example implementation:

# use CGI because it has subs that operate on array refs
use CGI qw/:standard/;

use Data::Dumper;
use strict;

my @list = (1..7);
print "list: ", Dumper(\@list),"\n";

# set the number of elements for the splices
my $num_elements = 4;


my @newlist =

    # This map operates on the list of splices.
    # If you remove the empty list "()" extra
    # empty elements will appear in your new list.
    #
    # CGI::Tr( $array_ref ) is used for demonstration purposes.
    map { Tr($_) }

    # This map operates on the spliced elements.
    #
    # CGI::td( $array_ref ) is used for demonstration purposes.
    map { td( [ splice(@list,0,$num_elements) ] ) }

    0 .. (@list/$num_elements);

print "newlist: ", Dumper(\@newlist),"\n";

__END__
    
>perl example.pl
list: $VAR1 = [
          1,
          2,
          3,
          4,
          5,
          6,
          7
        ];

newlist: $VAR1 = [
          '<tr><td>1</td> <td>2</td> <td>3</td> <td>4</td></tr>',
          '<tr><td>5</td> <td>6</td> <td>7</td></tr>'
        ];

Update: Changed the list from @_ to 0 .. (@_ / $num_elements) and removed some extra error checking from the top map. Thank you Aristotle for your suggestions. 

$num_elements = 4;
@_ = ( list,of,elements,to,splice );

@spliced_list =
  # This map operates on the list of splices.
  # the left side of || should test something
  # most likely something in $_ and return
  # something (or call a sub) if the test is
  # successful, and if the test fails, it should
  # failover to the right side of the || which
  # returns ().  
  map { func1($_) }

  # This map operates on the spliced elements.
  # Splicing the list removes those elements
  # from the list as a side affect.
  map { func2( [ splice(@_, 0, $num_elements) ] ) }

  # Since this snippet shows how to fold an array,
  # we only need to iterate over the count of
  # new elements.
  0 .. (@_ / $num_elements);

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In reply to Fold a list using map splices by hiseldl

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