I don't understand why you had to use 'map' to pass the regular expression
You could use map inside your sub, if you prefer.
Is it because when you run get_data( map { "^$_" @ids } ), it is like doing get_data( "^john" ) and that is being passed to the subroutine?
Not exactly. The map is like doing: 
get_data( '^john' , '^james' );

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In reply to Re^3: Passing Regex Pattern in Subroutine by toolic
in thread Passing Regex Pattern in Subroutine by Anonymous Monk

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