how *. and * operators work

One is a quantifier - * - match zero ore more times the preceeding character.
The other is an alias - . - match any character.

Read perlre where these are covered. Speaking of the meaning of *. is like speaking of the meaning of "od mo" in the expression "Good morning".

_($_=" "x(1<<5)."?\n".q·/)Oo.  G°\        /
                              /\_¯/(q    /
----------------------------  \__(m.====·.(_("always off the crowd"))."·
");sub _{s./.($e="'Itrs `mnsgdq Gdbj O`qkdq")=~y/"-y/#-z/;$e.e && print}