$ perl -MO=Deparse,-p -le " $a= 1 && 2; print $a; " BEGIN { $/ = "\n"; $\ = "\n"; } ($a = 2); print($a); -e syntax OK $ perl -MO=Deparse,-p -e " $a && $b = 3; " Can't modify logical and (&&) in scalar assignment at -e line 1, near "3;" -e had compilation errors. (($a && $b) = 3);