Only thing I can think of...

#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

$a = "I have to get the + version";
$b = "I have to get the + version";

# if($a =~ m/$b/i)
if (lc($a) eq lc($b))
{
    print "Ok\n";
}
else
{
    print "Not the same...\n";
}
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