%character_tests{ "var1" , "^0-9",
                  "var2" , "^A-Za-z0-9\." );


##</code><code>##

%character_tests = ( 
    var1 => qr/^0-9/,
    var2 => qr/^A-Za-z0-9\./ 
);

##</code><code>##

$somestring =~ $character_tests{var1};

##</code><code>##

 
$somestring =~ /$character_tests{var1}Foo/;