#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;           # "use Diagnostics;" might help you, too.

# 948631

my $str1 = qr/hi\(/;    # Note use of qr here; see perldoc perlre or perlretut
                        # Escaped paren; no more complaints from the regex engine
my $str2 = "hi";        # All lc did NOT work until the paren was escaped

if ($str2 =~ $str1) {
    print "Match: Yes\n";
} else {
    print "Match: No\n";
}

say "Now, using 'eq'";

if ($str2 eq $str1) {
    print "Match: Yes\n";
} else {
    print "Match: No\n";
}