I had expected something more like the behaviour from this: 
sub fn {
  sub { 3 }
}

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Where it's not the 3 that gets returned, rather it's a coderef to an anonymous subroutine.
Are you suggesting you didn't even try to run: 
sub fn {
    return: 3
}

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and see what it returns? Printing the return value of fn would have instantly revealed fn had returned '3', and not a code reference.
BTW, is 'return 3;' a statement?
Most certainly. What else could it be? It's not some pretty decorations.
If so, is it then a special exception to the rule 'blocks return the value of the last statement executed'
It's a statement. But it's not a block.
is the value of 'return 3' equal to 3 ?
sub foo {return 3;}
print foo();
__END__
3

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So, what do you think?

In reply to Re^3: 'return:' instead of 'return' by JavaFan
in thread 'return:' instead of 'return' by Boldra

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