I don't think the File::Find module has problems with a variable being a regexp. But you should let Perl know that you actually mean a regexp. In your example, $regex is treated as a scalar, not as a regex. Try something like this: 
my $regex = "\\.$searchfor";

$file =~ m/$regex/;

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Putting the regex delimiters into the variable may work with an eval, but this is just a wild guess.

In reply to Re: Turning an argument into a regexp by le
in thread Turning an argument into a regexp by LoneRanger

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