I have not tested either, but I think you should escape special characters in $string: 
my $path =~ /^\Q$string\E  # the base string; '\tmp\foo', e.g.
               (\\.*)?     # optionally match a slash, etc.
               $           # match end of string
              /x;

In reply to Re x 2: regexp question by Sweeper
in thread regexp question by hotshot

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