diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitBinaryOperatorNode.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitBinaryOperatorNode.java
index aafaf1445..98f582018 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitBinaryOperatorNode.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitBinaryOperatorNode.java
@@ -81,8 +81,8 @@ public static void emitBinaryOperatorNode(EmitterVisitor emitterVisitor, BinaryO
                  "==", "!=", "eq", "ne" -> EmitOperatorChained.emitChainedComparison(emitterVisitor, node);
 
             // Binary operators
-            case "%", "&", "&.", "*", "**", "+", "-", "/", "^^", "xor",
-                 "<<", "<=>", ">>", "^", "^.", "|", "|.",
+            case "%", "&", "&.", "binary&", "*", "**", "+", "-", "/", "^^", "xor",
+                 "<<", "<=>", ">>", "^", "^.", "binary^", "|", "|.", "binary|",
                  "bless", "cmp", "isa" -> EmitBinaryOperator.handleBinaryOperator(emitterVisitor, node,
                     OperatorHandler.get(node.operator));
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitOperator.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitOperator.java
index f76ad5a76..7d7f099ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitOperator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/codegen/EmitOperator.java
@@ -893,7 +893,15 @@ static void handleCreateReference(EmitterVisitor emitterVisitor, OperatorNode no
                     node.operand.accept(emitterVisitor.with(RuntimeContextType.LIST));
                 }
             } else {
-                node.operand.accept(emitterVisitor.with(RuntimeContextType.LIST));
+                // For most cases, evaluate in SCALAR context to get a reference to the value
+                // Only use LIST context for actual list-producing operations
+                int contextType = RuntimeContextType.SCALAR;
+                if (node.operand instanceof ListNode || 
+                    (node.operand instanceof OperatorNode op && 
+                     (op.operator.equals("@") || op.operator.equals("%")))) {
+                    contextType = RuntimeContextType.LIST;
+                }
+                node.operand.accept(emitterVisitor.with(contextType));
                 emitterVisitor.ctx.mv.visitMethodInsn(Opcodes.INVOKEVIRTUAL,
                         "org/perlonjava/runtime/RuntimeBase",
                         "createReference",