"What does the quotemeta do...?"

That's thoroughly explained in the docs. Ask your Teddy Bear ... uh, no, I mean, ask your machine's command line interface (using perldoc perlop [look for "Quote and Quote-like Operators"] or ask your browser using a search engine for http://perldoc.perl.org/functions/quotemeta.html which will tell you all about it.

We value sell-help self-help very highly here in the Monastery. You'll also find interesting (and helpful) information about site's expectations of those asking questions at PerlMonks FAQ section.

Edited: Typo fixed. TY soonix for catching what I should have.