// always matches, always returns TRUE, but it never changes $&.

That is not correct, in either aspect:

% perl -wle '"a" =~ /a/; "b" =~ // or print "did not match, did not re
+turn TRUE"'
did not match, did not return TRUE
% perl -wle '"a" =~ /.*/; q{$& changed} =~ // and print $&'
$& changed
%

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In reply to Re^3: Empty pattern in regex by hv
in thread Empty pattern in regex by choroba

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