Actually, this will only work for very simple strings, as you area treating $A[0] and $A[1] as regex, and pattern metacharacters will be treated as such. When interpolating a string literally in a pattern, wrap it in \Q . . . \E. The counter intuitiveness of this (especially in a world with qr{}) is what inspired the change in Perl 6.

Light a man a fire, he's warm for a day. Catch a man on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life. - Terry Pratchet