Irrespective of the values of $choice and @REPORT, the last statement is always reached (and executed).

I doubt that. I think you'll find the number of elements in @REPORT matters, since 

grep /\Q$choice\E/, @REPORT && do {
    last READ_LOOP;
};

[download]

means 

grep /\Q$choice\E/, (
   @REPORT && do { last READ_LOOP; }
);

[download]

&& has higher precedence than the list comma.

Deparse's -p option would have helped you. 

>perl -MO=Deparse,-p -e"grep /\Q$choice\E/, @REPORT && do { last READ_
+LOOP; };"
grep(/\Q$choice\E/, (@REPORT && do {
    last READ_LOOP
}));
-e syntax OK

[download]

Parens can be used to disambiguate, and switching to using and will given you the precedence you desire. I also removed the do since it's useless here. 

grep(/\Q$choice\E/, @REPORT)    # OK
   && last READ_LOOP;

[download]
grep /\Q$choice\E/, @REPORT     # OK
   and last READ_LOOP;

[download]
grep(/\Q$choice\E/, @REPORT)    # OK
   and last READ_LOOP;

[download]

In reply to Re: Alas poor grep, I thought I knew him well.. by ikegami
in thread Alas poor grep, I thought I knew him well.. by Bloodnok

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