As for the single vs. double quotes that Anonymous mentioned…..as I said, I’ve been learning via websites for the most part, and I see all these different examples.

:) syntax errors are syntax errors

$ perl -MPath::Tiny -MData::Dump -e " dd( path( 'smartquotes.pl' )->li
+nes_utf8 ) "
(
  "\x{FEFF}#!/usr/bin/perl --\r\n",
  "use warnings \x{2018}all\x{2019};\r\n",
  "my \$mkvingestdir = \x{201C}//nas/shared/mine/MKV\x{201D};\r\n",
)

$ perl smartquotes.pl
Unrecognized character \xE2; marked by <-- HERE after  warnings <-- HE
+RE near column 14 at smartquotes.pl line 2.

$ perl -MPath::Tiny -MData::Dump -e " dd( path( 'smartquotes.pl' )->li
+nes_raw ) "
(
  "\xEF\xBB\xBF#!/usr/bin/perl --\r\n",
  "use warnings \xE2\x80\x98all\xE2\x80\x99;\r\n",
  "my \$mkvingestdir = \xE2\x80\x9C//nas/shared/mine/MKV\xE2\x80\x9D;\
+r\n",
)

$ perl -MPath::Tiny -MData::Dump -e " dd( path( 'not-smartquotes.pl' )
+->lines_raw ) "
(
  "\xEF\xBB\xBF#!/usr/bin/perl --\r\n",
  "use warnings 'all';\r\n",
  "my \$mkvingestdir = '//nas/shared/mine/MKV';\r\n",
)
[download]

"U+2018" "U+2019" are not valid syntax like "U+0027"

"U+201C" "U+201D" are not valid syntax like "U+0022"

You're posting code that doesn't use '' and "" but the smart quotes ... whatever editor you're using is helping corrupt the code you post