my $test3 = qr<^in directory '/directory/tmp(/\..*'|')$>; my @test_array = ( "in directory '/directory/tmp'", "in directory '/directory/tmp/.idBAA5KaaYWfb'" ); for my $line (@test_array) { print "TESTING <$line>\n"; if ($line =~ $test3) { print "MATCHED\n"; } else { print "NO MATCH\n"; } }