Perl | scalar keyword Last Updated : 11 Jul, 2025 Comments Improve Suggest changes 3 Likes Like Report scalar keyword in Perl is used to convert the expression to scalar context. This is a forceful evaluation of expression to scalar context even if it works well in list context. Syntax: scalar exprReturns: a scalar value Example 1: Perl #!/usr/bin/perl -w # Defining Arrays @array1 = ("Geeks", "For", "Geeks"); @array2 = (1, 1, 0, 0, 9, 6); # Concatenation of both arrays @array3 = (@array1, @array2); # Printing the Concatenated Array # in List form print "Array in List form: @array3\n"; # Conversion of Arrays to scalar context @array3 = (scalar(@array1), scalar(@array2)); # Conversion to scalar returns # the number of elements in the array print "Array in scalar form: @array3\n"; Output: Array in List form: Geeks For Geeks 1 1 0 0 9 6 Array in scalar form: 3 6 Example 2: Perl #!/usr/bin/perl -w # Defining Arrays @array1 = ("Welcome", "To", "Geeks"); @array2 = (1, 1, 0, 0, 9, 6); # concatenation of both arrays @array3 = ( @array1, @array2 ); # Printing the Concatenated Array print "Concatenation of Arrays: @array3\n"; # Conversion of Arrays to scalar context to # Evaluate Difference between size of arrays @array3 = (scalar(@array2) - scalar(@array1)); # Printing the size Difference print "Difference in number of elements: @array3\n"; Output: Concatenation of Arrays: Welcome To Geeks 1 1 0 0 9 6 Difference in number of elements: 3 Comment C Code_Mech Follow 3 Improve C Code_Mech Follow 3 Improve Article Tags : Perl Perl-Scalars Perl-Keywords Explore BasicsPerl Programming Language2 min readIntroduction to Perl7 min readPerl Installation and Environment Setup in Windows, Linux, and MacOS3 min readPerl | Basic Syntax of a Perl Program10 min readHello World Program in Perl3 min readFundamentalsPerl | Data Types3 min readPerl | Boolean Values3 min readPerl | Operators | Set - 112 min readPerl | Operators | Set - 27 min readPerl | Variables4 min readPerl | Modules3 min readPackages in Perl4 min readControl FlowPerl | Decision Making (if, if-else, Nestedâif, if-elsif ladder, unless, unless-else, unless-elsif)6 min readPerl | Loops (for, foreach, while, do...while, until, Nested loops)7 min readPerl | given-when Statement4 min readPerl | goto statement3 min readArrays & ListsPerl | Arrays6 min readPerl | Array Slices3 min readPerl | Arrays (push, pop, shift, unshift)3 min readPerl List and its Types4 min readHashPerl Hash4 min readPerl | Hash Operations8 min readPerl | Multidimensional Hashes6 min readScalarsPerl | Scalars2 min readPerl | Comparing Scalars6 min readPerl | scalar keyword2 min readStringsPerl | Quoted, Interpolated and Escaped Strings4 min readPerl | String Operators4 min readPerl | String functions (length, lc, uc, index, rindex)4 min readOOP ConceptsObject Oriented Programming (OOPs) in Perl7 min readPerl | Classes in OOP6 min readPerl | Objects in OOPs6 min readPerl | Methods in OOPs5 min readPerl | Constructors and Destructors4 min readPerl | Method Overriding in OOPs6 min readPerl | Inheritance in OOPs7 min readPerl | Polymorphism in OOPs4 min readPerl | Encapsulation in OOPs6 min readRegular ExpressionsPerl | Regular Expressions2 min readPerl | Operators in Regular Expression4 min readPerl | Regex Character Classes3 min readPerl | Quantifiers in Regular Expression4 min readFile HandlingPerl | File Handling Introduction7 min readPerl | Opening and Reading a File4 min readPerl | Writing to a File3 min readPerl | Useful File-handling functions2 min read Like