From ian@dial.pipex.com

my $qm = '#aaaaaaa';
$qm = quotemeta($qm);
print $qm;

Verified on Linux; context-dependent junk is produced.

Works correctly on 5.005_57, broken in 5.005_58.
Works correctly on 5.005_61 if the 'my' is omitted.

Presumably an optimiser bug - the output from quotemeta is being written
on top of the input if they're both the same lexical.

(PS​: sorry for the informal bug report - perlbug doesn't work directly
on my system, and

Yes, but if you mail to perlbug rather than perl5-porters, you at least
get a bug ID...

I'm forced temporarily to use a M$ netscape mail client. So my messages
Feeble excuse. One floppy and a CDROM should see you clear, and you
don't need the floppy if your machine will boot from the CD. :-)

Ian