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# wantarray

Perl 5 version 16.0 documentation
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# wantarray

Perl functions A-Z | Perl functions by category | The 'perlfunc' manpage

- wantarray

  Returns true if the context of the currently executing subroutine or `eval` 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";

  `wantarray()`'s result is unspecified in the top level of a file, in a `BEGIN` , `UNITCHECK` , `CHECK` , `INIT` or `END` block, or in a `DESTROY` method.

  This function should have been named wantlist() instead.