Probably it's the \b that's screwing you up. Read perldoc perlre for the full explanation, but basically it means a point in the string where there's a transition from a \w character to a \W character (or vice versa). This condition doesn't exist for ":)" so the regex doesn't match and your substitution won't be done. 

  DB<4> $_ = ":) cat :)"

  DB<5> s/\b/^/g        

  DB<6> x $_            
0  ':) ^cat^ :)'

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In reply to Re: working with \Q and \E by Fletch
in thread working with \Q and \E by coldfingertips

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