# In these examples, @ret is your return in list context.
  return @ret;

  return wantarray ? @ret : \@ret;

  return @ret[0..$#ret];

  return wantarray ? @ret : $ret[0];

  if (wantarray) {
    return @ret;
  }
  elsif (1 == @ret) {
    return $ret[0];
  }
  else {
    croak("<function> did not produce a scalar return");
  }

# And for something completely different...
sub foo {
  if (1 != @_) {
    return map foo($_), @_;
  }
  # body of foo here.
  return $whatever;
}