#!/usr/bin/perl -w use strict; sub foo { return (10,11,12,13); } my $ret = 0; my $ret2= 0; # EXPRESSION A ($ret,$ret2)||= foo(); print "ret=$ret ret2=$ret2\n"; # ret2 returns 13, last element of list # ret remains unused (warning raised) $ret=0; # EXPRESSION B ($ret) = ($ret) || foo(); print "ret=$ret\n"; # returns 10, first element of list