wantarray
See the current Perl documentation for wantarray.
Here is our local, out-dated (pre-5.6) version:
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wantarray - get list vs array context of current subroutine call
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wantarray
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Returns TRUE if the context of the currently executing subroutine is looking for a list value. Returns FALSE if the context is looking for a scalar. Returns the undefined value if the context is looking for no value (void context).
return unless defined wantarray; # don't bother doing more my @a = complex_calculation(); return wantarray ? @a : "@a";