Why do you need $ when accessing array and hash elements in Perl?

Question

Since arrays and hashes can only contain scalars in Perl, why do you have to use the $ to tell the interpreter that the value is a scalar when accessing array or hash elemen

Answer 1

The sigil provides the context for the access:

• $ means scalar context (a scalar variable or a single element of a hash or an array)
• @ means list context (a whole array or a slice of a hash or an array)
• % is an entire hash