What I meant is how, after "$re_str" has been stringified, would the code know the string is meant to be used as a regexp instead of a direct compare. The keys represent command-line flags or switches after one dash has been removed, but in this case I wanted the key to match several possibilities.

As I noted in the other response, it looks like searching for '(?' at the beginning of the expression is the best way.

In reply to Re^2: how to use string RE (against $_ and capture) by perl-diddler
in thread how to use string RE (against $_ and capture) by perl-diddler

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