# the data
our @zot = qw(apples Ford perl Jennifer);

# the output
print "Func   Context   RetVal    \n",
      "----   -------   ------    \n";

{ # our function
my @list   = &ret_std(  @zot );
my $scalar = &ret_std(  @zot );

print "Std    LIST      @{list}   \n",   # prints 'apples Ford perl'
      "Std    SCALAR    ${scalar} \n\n"; # prints 3
}

{ # a poorly-written function
my @list   = &ret_bad(  @zot );
my $scalar = &ret_bad(  @zot );

print "Bad    LIST      @{list}   \n",   # prints 'apples Ford perl'
      "Bad    SCALAR    ${scalar} \n\n"; # prints 'perl'
}

{ # a better function
my @list   = &ret_good( @zot );
my $scalar = &ret_good( @zot );

print "Good   LIST      @{list}   \n",   # prints 'apples Ford perl'
      "Good   SCALAR    ${scalar} \n\n"; # prints 'apples Ford perl'
}

# the functions

# returns full list, or number of elements
sub ret_std {
    my @foo = @_[0..2];
    return @foo;
}

# returns a list each time, but how long, and which parts??
sub ret_bad {
    return @_[0..2];
}

# the "proper" function (from perldoc -f wantarray)
# returns the full list, as a space-delimited scalar or list
sub ret_good {
    my @bar = @_[0..2];
    return (wantarray()) ? @bar : "@bar";
}