use warnings;
use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

my $sample = "AEHL";
my $mc = join '.*', split //, $sample;
my @options = (
             "ABFGHKM",    # idx = 0
             "AEGHL",      # idx = 1
             "ACEGHJL",    # idx = 2
             "BFHK",       # idx = 3
             "ABFGHKL",    # idx = 4
             "CH"          # idx = 5
);

my @matches;
for my $i (0 .. $#options) {
    push @matches, $i if $options[$i] =~ /$mc/;
}
print Dumper(\@matches);

__END__

$VAR1 = [
          1,
          2
        ];