in reply to search a string in a non-regular file

Asterisk has a special meaning in regular expressions. To match it literally, you need to backslash it, or enclose it in a character class. 
$ perl -e '/*/'
Quantifier follows nothing in regex; marked by <-- HERE in m/* <-- HER
+E / at -e line 1.
$ perl -e '/\*/'

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($q=q:Sq=~/;[c](.)(.)/;chr(-||-|5+lengthSq)`"S|oS2"`map{chr |+ord
}map{substrSq`S_+|`|}3E|-|`7**2-3:)=~y+S|`+$1,++print+eval$q,q,a,

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In Section Seekers of Perl Wisdom