I stand corrected, but it was actually '.' and '$' new line behavior I was confusing. I once spent a great deal of time beating my brains out until I figured out that '.' doesn't match \n unless you use the 's' modifier, e.g. /;./s. But the more I think about it, I also am finding '$' less clearer than I thought, but I'll save those questions for another thread.

Best, beth

Update 2: removed update 1, appears I still have '$' questions and will need to go to SOPW