my $loc = (index($s, '*')+1) || length($s);

##</code><code>##

my $loc = (index($s, '*')+1) || (length($s)+1);

##</code><code>##

my $loc = ( (index($s, '*')+1) || (length($s)+1) ) - 1;

##</code><code>##

my $loc = do { my $i = index $s, '*'; $i < 0 ? length($s) : $i };