$ perl -Mstrict -Mwarnings -E '
    say q{*** Using qr{}};
    my $re = qr{^.*$};
    say ref $re;
    say $re;

    say q{*** Using q{}};
    my $str = q{^.*$};
    say ref $str;
    say $str;
'
*** Using qr{}
Regexp
(?^u:^.*$)
*** Using q{}

^.*$