Shell Programming and Scripting

Binary "=~" binds a scalar expression to a pattern match. Certain operations search or modify the string $_ by default. This operator makes that kind of operation work on some other string. The right argument is a search pattern, substitution, or transliteration. The left argument is what is supposed to be searched, substituted, or transliterated instead of the default $_. When used in scalar context, the return value generally indicates the success of the operation. The exceptions are substitution (s///) and transliteration (y///) with the /r (non-destructive) option, which cause the return value to be the result of the substitution. Behavior in list context depends on the particular operator. See Regexp Quote-Like Operators for details and perlretut for examples using these operators.
If the right argument is an expression rather than a search pattern, substitution, or transliteration, it is interpreted as a search pattern at run time. Note that this means that its contents will be interpolated twice, so