$ perl -e' use Data::Dumper; $Data::Dumper::Useqq = 1; for ( "ab\ncd", "ab\ncd\n" ) { /\w*$/ && print Dumper $&; /\w*\Z/ && print Dumper $&; /.*$/ && print Dumper $&; /.*\Z/ && print Dumper $&; /.*$/m && print Dumper $&; /.*\Z/m && print Dumper $&; /.*$/s && print Dumper $&; /.*\Z/s && print Dumper $&; print "\n"; } ' $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "ab"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "ab\ncd"; $VAR1 = "ab\ncd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "ab"; $VAR1 = "cd"; $VAR1 = "ab\ncd\n"; $VAR1 = "ab\ncd\n";