Subs returning arrays behave differently to subs returning lists. If your sub returns an array, calling it in scalar context gets you the number of elements. In list context there's no difference. 
perl -le "@a=(2,4,6); sub x{@a} print scalar(x());"

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prints 3, not 6.

In reply to Re^2: Determining subroutine return type by sandfly
in thread Determining subroutine return type by satchm0h

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