Hello,

Here I'll write a collection of ways how to force list context, and next I will write some examples of using construction '( LIST )[ LIST ]', where brackets used as unary right-associative list-context forcing operator.

Some links, which are (or can be) related to this topic:
! Context tutorial
use of parentheses around a variable
Scalar Vs. List context
If you believe in Lists in Scalar Context, Clap your Hands
(Answered) How to force list context?

So, e.g., I have a code 
perl -wle 'print ":" . XXX'

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, where XXX is something what I want in LIST context. The concatenation dot '.' forces scalar context. (In this example, '.' changing to ',' would solve a task well). In examples I'll use regex match '/./g' for XXX (upd2. match (m) has different behavior depending on context).
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . /./g'

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Match in scalar context, outputs ':1' (upd1. '1' stays for successful match, i.e. "logical true")

List of ways to force a list context:
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( () = /./g )'
# output: ':6' (6 - number of matches; special behaviour)

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'()=' list assignment operator forces list context. Must be parethessized because '.' precedence is higher than of assignment. 
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . @{[ /./g ]}'
# output: ':6' (6 - number of matches => number of array elements)

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perlsecret Babycart op. Referencing + dereferencing. 
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . @_{ /./g }'
#Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at -e line 
+1.
#:

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Taking a slice of hash ( %_ ). May be any hash. For viewing how match have run, we can add '/.(?{ print $& })/g'. 
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[ 1 ]'
# output: ':4' (second match for e.g. index 1)

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Asking some list elements (e.g. one element, e.g. which index is '1').

Speed of different methods.
I tried these four methods for a string of length 5e5. 
perl -wle '$_ = "3" x 5e5; print ":" . method( XXX )'

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Both first and second ways consumed 0.33 s, and 3rd and 4th ways consumed 0.25 s.
I think this is because: former ways manipulate every element of a list generated by match, and later ways try to access only one element of some structure.

Asking for no elements of the list by using something inside "brackets operator".
I name brackets as an operator, but I do not know it a true operator? Also, I haven't seen it in perlop operator precedence list.
Here are some ways how to ask none of elements:
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[ [] ]'
#Use of uninitialized value in concatenation (.) or string at -e line 
+1.
#:

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Simply concatenates with uninitialized value which self-stringifies into ''. Same with perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[ {} ]'.
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[ undef ]'
#Use of uninitialized value in list slice at -e line 1.
#:3

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Uninitialized value inside list (inside-bracket list), which casts to numeric and becomes 0, so first element of a list (target list), i.e. 3, is returned.

And for these two I get strange behavior:
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[()]'
#Argument ":" isn't numeric in list slice at -e line 1.
#:3

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perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print ":" . ( /./g )[@_]'
#Argument ":" isn't numeric in list slice at -e line 1.
#:3

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In these two, it seems that a 'colon' is cloned and transported into brackets and evaluated here. It evaluates to numerioc, i.e. 0, and returns first element of a list, i.e. 3.
Here, if we use some number instead of colon, we can get unexpected behavior (with no warnings):
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print "2" . ( /./g )[()]'
#25

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'5' stands for 3rd element, i.e. index = 2.
perl -wle '$_ = "345678"; print "2" . ( /.(?{ print $& })/g )[()]'
3
4
5
6
7
8
25

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In reply to Forcing list context. Brackets (with list within) as an unary right-associative operator by rsFalse

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