But your cases are simplifications, I guess. Then I'd use

• the first form if it's not at the end of the sub, i.e. for early returns
• the second form if I know what is_writable() returns (i.e. it's my own code, and I know how it behaves in scalar or array context)
• the third one to force scalar return, no matter what is_writable() actually gives.

--shmem

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}