First thing, if your process has a $ppid, then that process might also have a $ppid. You can trace your way up to the real parent process that way. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

Secondly, "dot star" is a real issue because it does things you don't expect it to when it gets really greedy, which is why there is postings like Death to Dot Star! Since you're using it as the last thing in your expression, you should be okay. It's when you put it in the middle that it can wreak havok on your data.