maybe you copy'ed and pasted sloppy, but it works if I remove that extra paren:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
my $first = 'match';
my $second = 'matching\.com';
my $third = 'match\.company';

my $data = 'matching.com';

my $test = $data =~ /(?:$first|$second|$third)/gi;

print $test , "\n";
__END__
1
[download]

be sure to check if $data is actualy a matching string, just print it to STDERR or something. Also it's a nice habit to post the occuring errors and sample data, helps a lot to help :)

regards,
tomte

---

Hlade's Law:

If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person --
they will find an easier way to do it.