Quote and Quote-like Operators

    Customary  Generic     Meaning    Interpolates
        ''       q{}       Literal         no
        ""      qq{}       Literal         yes
        ``      qx{}       Command         yes
                qw{}      Word list        no
        //       m{}    Pattern match      yes
                 s{}{}   Substitution      yes
                tr{}{}   Translation       no

For constructs that do interpolation, variables beginning with ``$'' or ``@'' are interpolated, as are the following sequences:

    \t          tab             (HT, TAB)
    \n          newline         (LF, NL)
    \r          return          (CR)
    \f          form feed       (FF)
    \b          backspace       (BS)
    \a          alarm (bell)    (BEL)
    \e          escape          (ESC)
    \033        octal char
    \x1b        hex char
    \c[         control char
    \l          lowercase next char
    \u          uppercase next char
    \L          lowercase till \E
    \U          uppercase till \E
    \E          end case modification
    \Q          quote regexp metacharacters till \E

If use locale is in effect, the case map used by \l, \L, \u and < \U> is taken from the current locale. See the perllocale manpage.

Patterns are subject to an additional level of interpretation as a regular expression. This is done as a second pass, after variables are interpolated, so that regular expressions may be incorporated into the pattern from the variables. If this is not what you want, use \Q to interpolate a variable literally.

Apart from the above, there are no multiple levels of interpolation. In particular, contrary to the expectations of shell programmers, back-quotes do NOT interpolate within double quotes, nor do single quotes impede evaluation of variables when used within double quotes.