$ perl -e " $x = shift; /$x/" "(?{ die 666 })" Eval-group not allowed at runtime, use re 'eval' in regex m/(?{ die 666 })/ at -e line 1. $ perl -Mre=eval -e " $x = shift; /$x/" "(?{ die 666 })" 666 at (re_eval 1) line 1. $ perl -Mre=eval -Te " $x = shift; /$x/" "(?{ die 666 })" Eval-group in insecure regular expression in regex m/(?{ die 666 })/ at -e line 1.