# timtowtdi... foreach ( qw{ ^abcd cd[ef]g cat$ } ) { push @array, qr{$_} }; # shorter still ... push @array, qr{$_} for qw{ ^abcd cd[ef]g cat$ }; # or the way I think is most clear and most sane.... @array = ( qr{^abcd}, qr{cd[ef]g}, qr{cat$} );