You're right, I was wrong. It turns out that "@foo" is not best considered context at all, or, at best, it's a special sort of context that only matters here. When an array is used in scalar context, it returns it's length. Period. However, when an array is interpolated into a string, it magicaly does not get evaluated in scalar context, then inserted into the string.

Instead, it's magicly equivlent to join($", @foo). Indeed, the internal operation tree generated by perl for "@foo" looks almost exactly like that for join($", @foo), the difference being a "stringify" operation, which seems to mostly shuffle things around a little.

Much thanks to diotalevi for pointing this out, pointing me at -MO=Concise's take on what's happening, and for his other critisims on the node.

Update: $", not $,, thanks again, demerphq.

Warning: Unless otherwise stated, code is untested. Do not use without understanding. Code is posted in the hopes it is useful, but without warranty. All copyrights are relinquished into the public domain unless otherwise stated. I am not an angel. I am capable of error, and err on a fairly regular basis. If I made a mistake, please let me know (such as by replying to this node).

In reply to Re: Re: Constructing Context by theorbtwo
in thread Constructing Context by theorbtwo

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