In the case you provided, you would do something like this: 

( $foo ) = split ( /\./, $bar );

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By wrapping the left hand side in parens, you put the assignment into list context, and the first element of that list is stored in $foo.

For more complex cases, sometimes its helpful to wrap the right-hand-side in parens, and then index into the element that you want returned: 

$foo = ( split ( /\./, $bar ) )[0];

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The latter method would allow you to return several elements at once. You could even do this: 

( $foo, $boo ) = ( split ( /\./, $bar ) )[ 1, 0 ];

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...which would return the 2nd element to $foo, and the 1st element to $boo.


Dave

In reply to Re: Returning first element of an array from a function by davido
in thread Returning first element of an array from a function by lcanty

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