note shmem The qw() operator provides list context already. So <c> print ( qw(a b c) x 3 ); </c> <p> yields the same result as <c> @l = qw(a b c); print ( (@l) x 3); </c> <p> which makes sense imho. An array isn't a list, but a qw() expression <i>is</i>. <p>update: as a reminder, this is from [doc://perlop]: <blockquote><small> Binary "x" is the repetition operator. 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. If the right operand is zero or negative, it returns an empty string or an empty list, depending on the context. </small></blockquote> <div class="pmsig"><div class="pmsig-510280"> <p>--shmem <small><small><pre> _($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q&middot;/)Oo. G&deg;\ / /\_&macr;/(q / ---------------------------- \__(m.====&middot;.(_("always off the crowd"))."&middot; ");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}</pre></small></small> </div></div> 654042 654259