Better yet: 
$criteria = "(abc|123)\$";
$teststring = "Foo walks up and says: abc";

if ( $teststring =~ /$criteria/ ) {
   print "Got $1\n";
} else {
   print "uh no, it did not\n";
}

__END__
output
======
Got abc

[download]
You might have an easier time at typing your regexp if you used qr// instead of double quotes: 
$criteria = qr/(abc|123)$/;
...

[download]

In reply to Re^2: $scaler inside a RegEx by ikegami
in thread $scaler inside a RegEx by ManFromNeptune

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