By asking how /(.*)/ can break, you're showing that you don't know that . can't match a newline, unless you use the /s modifier to a regex.

And, they're doing things silly like

if ($string =~ /.*/) { ... }
[download]

or

if ($string =~ /.*\.html/) { ... }
[download]

Those show they don't know what they're doing. It's like seeing a hammer being used to pound a nail into wood, and then going around slamming a hammer into everything you see.

japhy -- Perl and Regex Hacker