It doesn't "default to ASCII". It works against decoded text aka string of Unicode Code Points. Always. Even without pragmas. This can be demonstrated using "\N{U+100}" =~ /\w/ (which matches). You need to use /a if to limit it to the ASCII range.

In reply to Re^14: Seeking Perl docs about how UTF8 flag propagates (Terminology) by ikegami
in thread Seeking Perl docs about how UTF8 flag propagates by raygun

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