It is not an inconsistency

only lvalues get autovivified, and undef is not an lvalue 

$ perl -le " sub dang : lvalue { undef } dang()=1;  "
Can't return undef from lvalue subroutine at -e line 1.

$ perl -le " sub dang : lvalue { undef } dang()->[0] "
Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at -e line 1.

$ perl -le " undef->[0] "
Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at -e line 1.

$ perl -le " my $variable = undef; $variable->[0] "

[download]

Even though undef can resemble an lvalue (hey, its on the left of an assignment), 

( undef, undef, my $mode ) = stat 'filename';

[download]
you can't assing a value to undef, so undef is not an lvalue 
$ perl -le " undef = 1; "
Modification of a read-only value attempted at -e line 1.

[download]

See References quick reference, autovivification, perlglossary#autovivification, autovivification, lvalue

In reply to Re: undefined value as an ARRAY reference sometimes ok by Anonymous Monk
in thread undefined value as an ARRAY reference sometimes ok by Anonymous Monk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.