c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le
"my $s = qq{AAA*\n};
 ;;
 my $t = $s;
 print qq{A1: '$t'};
 $t =~ s/\*$//;
 print qq{A2: '$t'};
 ;;
 $t = $s;
 print qq{B1: '$t'};
 $t =~ s/\*\s$//;
 print qq{B2: '$t'};
 ;;
 $t = $s;
 print qq{C1: '$t'};
 $t =~ s/\*[\n]$//;
 print qq{C2: '$t'};
"
A1: 'AAA*
'
A2: 'AAA
'
B1: 'AAA*
'
B2: 'AAA'
C1: 'AAA*
'
C2: 'AAA'