To verify whether a function is called in list context or scalar context, use wantarray.

Here's a snippet of code to verify my assumption: 

my $a;

($a) = ($a) || foo();
($a) ||= foo();

sub foo {
    wantarray ? print("list\n") : print("scalar\n");
    return 0;
}

[download]
and it prints 
list
scalar

In reply to Re^2: Why are "a ||= b" and "a = a || b" different? by saintmike
in thread Why are "a ||= b" and "a = a || b" different? by saintmike

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