Are you trying to find the length of the string?
length is much better than your
pos loop for that purpose.
Is the last line in your code meant to handle the case you're saying doesn't work in the main substitution? Well, sure the main one doesn't work, because /\\(.)/ doesn't match at the last character. It can't! $_ .= "\\" if /\\$/ is one way to do it -- no need for a length check at all.
By the way, "dereference" is usually understood to mean something else that what you are using it as here. The term you are looking for is probably "escape" or colloquially "backwhack".