sub first_character_matches { return( ((lc shift) ^ (lc shift)) =~ /^\0/ ); } #### 1) poerbook:~% perl -wle 'print "yes" if ( ((lc shift) ^ (lc shift)) =~ /^\0/ )' abc DBC 1) poerbook:~% perl -wle 'print "yes" if ( ((lc shift) ^ (lc shift)) =~ /^\0/ )' abc ABC yes