$ alias perle alias perle='perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -Mautodie=:all -MCarp::Always -E' $ perlbrew switch perl-5.32.0 $ perle 'say $]; say join ",",map {ord} split //, $_ for "\x{ 41 }", "\x{41}", "\x{263A}", "\x{ 263A }"; say for "\x{41}", "\x{ 41 }"' Non-hex character ' ' terminates \x early. Resolved as "\x{00}" at -e line 1. Non-hex character ' ' terminates \x early. Resolved as "\x{00}" at -e line 1. Non-hex character ' ' terminates \x early. Resolved as "\x{00}" at -e line 1. 5.032000 0 65 9786 0 A $ perlbrew switch perl-5.34.0 $ perle 'say $]; say join ",",map {ord} split //, $_ for "\x{ 41 }", "\x{41}", "\x{263A}", "\x{ 263A }"; say for "\x{41}", "\x{ 41 }"' 5.034000 65 65 9786 9786 A A