first of all, why not using regexp for parsing the string:

if (/^\?/) {
  next;
} elsif (/^\!/) {
  rest of the code ;
}
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It's much more clear, efficient and fast.
secondly, you have a problem with the double quotes inside your string, put single quote as outer quotes.
and third, after fixing the quotes problem it worked for me, I tried it myself.

Thanks.

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