Hey, it worked for the test case you gave :)

(grumble, grumble, inadequate test cases :( Even these test cases are inadequate, can you figure out why? ) 

#!/usr/bin/perl

# http://perlmonks.org/?node_id=1196089

use strict;
use warnings;

$\ = $/;

while(<DATA>)
  {
  chomp;
  my $dict = $_;

  $_ = <DATA>;

  my($head, $tail) = map length( $_ // '' ), split /\*/;

  s/\?/[$dict]/g;
  s/\*/ [^$dict ]* /;

  my $qr = qr/^$_/;

  $_ = <DATA>,
    $head <= length($_) && substr($_, $head, 0, ' '),
    $tail && $tail <= length($_) && substr($_, -$tail, 0, ' '),
    print $_ =~ $qr ? "YES" : "NO"
      for 1 .. <DATA>;
  }

__DATA__
ab
a?a
3
aaa
aab
aaac
ab
*a?a
3
aaa
aab
caaa
ab
a?a*
3
aaa
aab
aaac
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa*
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
b
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
1
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[download]

In reply to Re^3: the case where regex seems to work slower by tybalt89
in thread the case where regex seems to work slower by rsFalse

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