#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

for ('#abc',' abc','abc','# abc',' #abc') {
  my $v1 = ($_ !~ /^#\s/ and $_ !~ /^\s/) || 0;  # yours
  my $v2 = ($_ !~ /^#?\s/) || 0;                 # mine
  print "$v1 $v2 '$_'\n";
}