Normally, $a = @array; will store the number of elements in the list in $a. That is not always the case, because of wantarray. For example:

$scalar = localtime();
print($scalar, "\n");
# "Mon Aug 23 11:31:16 2004"

@array = localtime();
$scalar = @array;
print($scalar, ':', join(',', @array), "\n");
# 9:16,31,11,23,7,104,1,235,1

@array = scalar(localtime());
$scalar = @array;
print($scalar, ':', join(',', @array), "\n");
# 1:Mon Aug 23 11:34:30 2004

[download]

Update: Fixed error pointed out by davorg

In reply to Re: Return Value of List-Producing Elements in Scalar Context by ikegami
in thread Return Value of List-Producing Elements in Scalar Context by pikus

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