#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;

my $str = '/path/to/f(il)e';
(my $name = $str) =~ s{.*/}{};      # basename
(my $path = $str) =~ s{$name}{};
print " str = $str\n";
print "name = $name\n";
print "(unescaped) path = $path\n";
($path = $str) =~ s{\Q$name\E}{};
print "(escaped) path = $path\n";

##</code><code>##

 str = /path/to/f(il)e
name = f(il)e
(unescaped) path = /path/to/f(il)e
(escaped) path = /path/to/