For @list (where you're using |), remember that Perl's | operator is the bitwise or operator, e.g., 1 | 2 results in the value '3'. You probably do understand this one, it's just that you're temporarily confused.

For the difference between the other two, checking1 perlop will yield this nugget "Using 'or' for assignment is unlikely to do what you want; see below."

1 I'm using Strawberry Perl 5.10.0

Information about American English usage here and here. Floating point issues? Please read this before posting. — emc

In reply to Re: 'or' versus '||' - Unexpected Results by swampyankee
in thread 'or' versus '||' - Unexpected Results by cmv

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