Perl: Why (print) ?

[donsy]

According to Programming Perl, the -p switch wraps the following code around your script:

LINE:
while(<>) {
... # script goes here
}
continue {
(print) || die "-p destination: $!\n";
}
Why the parentheses around the print statement? I thought the print statement always executed in list context anyway.

[QDR06VV9]

Print is not actually a real function (it is a language construct) so you are not required to use parentheses with its argument list.

In fact, using parentheses can cause confusion with the syntax of a function and SHOULD be omited.

Most would expect the following behavior:
<?php
if (print("foo") && print("bar")) {
// "foo" and "bar" had been printed
}
?>

But since the parenthesis around the argument are not required, they are interpretet as part of the argument.
This means that the argument of the first print is

("foo") && print("bar")

and the argument of the second print is just

("bar")

For the expected behavior of the first example, you need to write:
<?php
if ((print "foo") && (print "bar")) {
// "foo" and "bar" had been printed
More Info here: http://php.net/manual/en/function.print.php