Perl 5 version documentation

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).

    1.     return unless defined wantarray; # don't bother doing more
    2.     my @a = complex_calculation();
    3.     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.