From reverse

reverse LIST
      In list context, returns a list value consisting of the ele-
      ments of LIST in the opposite order.  In scalar context, con-
      catenates the elements of LIST and returns a string value with
      all characters in the opposite order.

In list context:

my @array = reverse( LIST );
[download]

In scalar context:

my $value = reverse( LIST );
[download]

Fine. But it does not say how it's supposed to behave when fed a SCALAR instead of a LIST, does it?

I'm still confused.

--
Andreas

Erm . . . a LIST may consist of a single scalar value. That single scalar value is concatenated with all the other elements in the LIST (very quickly, obviously, since they're non-existent) and the bytes in that concatenated string (i.e. the single scalar argument) are returned in reverse order, just like the docs say.

The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.
The cake is a lie.