Works for me

$val1 = qr/Torque\sDriver/i;
$tq = &val_search($val1);

sub val_search { 
    my $line = "abcd Torque Driver efgh";
    my $ret_val = 0; 
    { 
        ($ret_val) = ($line =~ /$_[0]/); 
        print "ret_val = ", $ret_val, "\n"; 
        return $ret_val; 
    } 
}
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