# the only obfu'd part of this code would be the regex
# which fails anyway so nevermind the obfu
# more concerned with the behavior
$str = "foobar fOObar";
$x   = qr/(foo)/i;
print $1 while ($str =~ m _${x}_g);
print "\n";
# prints 'foofOO\n' to STDOUT - fine

$str = "foobar fOObar";
$x   = "(foo)";
print $1 while ($str =~ m _${x}_g);
print "\n";
# prints 'foo\n' to STDOUT - also fine

# this is where it gets weird
# and of course the part I most badly wanted to work
$str = "foobar fOObar";
$_   = qr/(foo)/i;
print $1 while ($str =~ m _${_}_g);
print "\n";
# throws error:
# Missing right bracket at az.pl line 17, within pattern