#!c:/opt/perl/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; my $t='E:\\th\\foo\\bl\\be'; my $x='E:\\th\\foo'; print "t:$t, x:$x\n"; # m// should show that $t starts with $x $t =~ m,^$x, and print "matched\n" or print "didn't match\n"; $t =~ m,^\Q$x, and print "matched with Q\n" or print "didn't match with Q\n"; $t =~ m,^\$x, and print "matched with 1 \\\n" or print "didn't match with 1 \\\n"; $t =~ m,^\\$x, and print "matched with 2 \\\n" or print "didn't match with 2 \\\n"; # tried with 3 and 4 \ too # being explicit on right (no quotes) $t =~ m,E:\\th\\foo, and print "yes (explicit)\n" or print "no (explicit)\n"; $t =~ m,E\:\\th\\foo, and print "yes (1 \\ :)\n" or print "no (1 \\ :)\n"; $t =~ m,E\\:\\th\\foo, and print "yes (2 \\ :)\n" or print "no (2 \\ :)\n"; __END__ t:E:\th\foo\bl\be, x:E:\th\foo didn't match matched with Q didn't match with 1 \ didn't match with 2 \ yes (explicit) yes (1 \ :) no (2 \ :)