There's no way other than learning what makes scalar or list context. Start with assignment:
my $calar = ...; # scalar context
my @rray = ...; # list context
my ($calar) = ...; # list context
my @rray = scalar ...; # scalar context
Some operators, such as concatenation and addition, enforce scalar context. Some circumstances, such as an argument list or list interpolation, enforce list context.
Certain circumstances, such as the return value of a subroutine, depend on the calling context -- you can't analyze them at compilation time.
Is there a circumstance you find especially confusing?
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