then it should always return a "list", even in scalar context, i.e. if called in scalar context return the last value in its return expression.
Ugh, that's not possible. You cannot return a list in a scalar context. Ever.

You can type: 

return (99, 100, 101);

[download]
But that's not "returning a list in a scalar context", even if called in a scalar context. It's returning a scalar in a scalar context, by evaluating that comma-expression in a scalar context, getting the result 101.

I know you know that, but sloppy language here gets us running around in circles.

See my On Scalar Context for samples of many things that "listy" things do in a scalar context. Based on that, I don't see how "last thing" is any more intuitive than "first thing" or "number of elements" (the three main candidates).

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker

In reply to Re^3: Returning undef: The point I would like Damian to reconsider by merlyn
in thread Returning undef: The point I would like Damian to reconsider by martin

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