in reply to Please explain 'list' assignment.

Because list assignments are parallel. A list of three items on the left expects three items on the right. Since there's only one, $var2 and $var3 remain undefined.

You can do what you want with: 

my ($var1, $var2, $var3) = "Hello" x 3;

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Update: Oops - I read your question slightly wrong. To assign the same value three times, use

my ($var1, $var2, $var3) = map "Hello", 1..3;

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or 
my ($var1, $var2, $var3) = ("Hello") x 3;

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(thanks Sidhekin)

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Re^2: Please explain 'list' assignment.
by shenme (Priest) on Nov 03, 2006 at 19:19 UTC
    The 'x' operator can act upon strings or upon lists. The use above, "Hello" x 3" created three concatenated copies of the string "Hello", thus "HelloHelloHello". What you wanted was "three copies of an item in list context", like so: 
    my ( $var1, $var2, $var3 ) = ("Hello") x 3;

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    The parentheses force the value into list context, the 'x' then makes three copies of that single value list, and you get ("Hello", "Hello", "Hello"), which is what OP wanted.
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Re^2: Please explain 'list' assignment.
by Bagarre (Sexton) on Nov 03, 2006 at 19:20 UTC
    Just came back to say that didnt work :) The map works... and makes sense.
    Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.
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Re^2: Please explain 'list' assignment.
by Bagarre (Sexton) on Nov 03, 2006 at 19:12 UTC
    Perfect. Thank you :)
    Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily.
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