grep iterates over the list you give it, assigns each member to $_ and evaluates the given expression or code. In this case, you try 
{ date => '20161010', day => 'Monday' } =~ /^$search$/

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which clearly isn't true. Just modify your expression to match the date part of each element: 

my $result = ( grep $_->{date} =~ /^$search$/, @$data ) ? 'Found' : 'N
+ot Found';

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Update: Note that for larger lists, any from List::Util might be faster if you just want to know whether such an element exists. It also specifies the intent more clearly.

use List::Util qw{ any };
my $result = ( any { $_->{date} =~ /^$search$/ } @$data ) ? 'Found' : 
+'Not Found';

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($q=q:Sq=~/;[c](.)(.)/;chr(-||-|5+lengthSq)`"S|oS2"`map{chr |+ord
}map{substrSq`S_+|`|}3E|-|`7**2-3:)=~y+S|`+$1,++print+eval$q,q,a,

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In reply to Re: Searching with grep by choroba
in thread Searching with grep by Anonymous Monk

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