$ perl -e '$_="foo\n"; print "1=|$1|\n" if m/(fo.+?)$/s' 1=|foo| $ perl -e '$_="foo\n"; print "1=|$1|\n" if m/(fo.+?)\z/s' 1=|foo | #### $ perl -e '$_="foo\nbar"; print "1=|$1|\n" if m/(fo.+?)$/s' 1=|foo bar| $ perl -e '$_="foo\nbar\n"; print "1=|$1|\n" if m/(fo.+?)$/s' 1=|foo bar| $ perl -e '$_="foo\nbar\n"; print "1=|$1|\n" if m/(fo.+?)\z/s' 1=|foo bar |