if ( $str2 =~ /$str1/i ){...

OP stated that the task is to find $str2 in $str1, so that's probably not right.

such as ... escaping them, though that will also be problematic

See davido's answer regarding \Q (as well as quotemeta).

In reply to Re^2: Stupid question about strings... by Anonymous Monk
in thread Stupid question about strings... by kepler

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