#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

my $aref = [5,6,7,8];
print @$aref,"\n";         #5678
print "@$aref","\n";       #5 6 7 8
print scalar @$aref,"\n";  #4
print ''.@$aref,"\n";      #4   

# using string concatenation in the last example
# puts @$aref in a scalar context

my $ref = [ [qw(a b c)], [qw(x y zzy)] ];
print ''.map{@$_}@$ref;   #6

# $ref is a ref to an array of references
# @$ref makes a list of those references
# the map expands out each array ref into all of its elements
# putting this into a scalar context reports the total number

print @{$ref->[1]},"\n";  #xyzzy

#basically, you need extra {} when a subscript is involved.