I've just been tripped up by:

  my @foo = (2, 3,  4  x 17, 3, 2, 0, 0)

being quite different from:

  my @foo = (2, 3, (4) x 17, 3, 2, 0, 0)

which looks as if the '()' confer some quality of list-ness. The documentation says:

.... In scalar context or if the left operand is not enclosed in parentheses, it returns a string consisting of the left operand repeated the number of times specified by the right operand. In list context, if the left operand is enclosed in parentheses or is a list formed by qw/STRING/, it repeats the list.

so the brackets are part of the syntax... I confess that I was (for reasons unknown) expecting 'x' to do listy things in List Context and scalary things otherwise. (Many things take lists of arguments, so I guess it would be inconvenient for (e.g.) '-' x 24 to yield a list in List Context.)

Similarly, of course,  foreach VAR(LIST) BLOCK reenforces the feeling that '()' have something to do with the making of lists.

In reply to Re^8: chopping a string into slices - is there a more elegant way to do it? by gone2015
in thread chopping a string into slices - is there a more elegant way to do it? by rovf

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