diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/BytecodeCompiler.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/BytecodeCompiler.java
index 94d8bb971..06f032a2e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/BytecodeCompiler.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/BytecodeCompiler.java
@@ -1189,6 +1189,11 @@ public void visit(BlockNode node) {
             Node elem = node.elements.get(i);
             if (elem == null) continue;
             if (elem instanceof ListNode ln && ln.elements.isEmpty()) continue;
+            // Pragma flag nodes and format declarations adjust compile-time state
+            // but do not contribute a do/require return value (matches Perl 5:
+            // use/no run as BEGIN; their CompilerFlagNode epilogue is not the
+            // file's last runtime expression).
+            if (elem instanceof CompilerFlagNode || elem instanceof FormatNode) continue;
             if (elem instanceof AbstractNode an && (an.getBooleanAnnotation("compileTimeOnly") || an.getBooleanAnnotation("noReturnValue"))) continue;
             lastMeaningfulIndex = i;
             break;
@@ -6356,8 +6361,6 @@ public void visit(CompilerFlagNode node) {
         // Update per-call-site $^H and %^H for caller()[8] and caller()[10]
         WarningBitsRegistry.setCallSiteHints(node.getStrictOptions());
         WarningBitsRegistry.snapshotCurrentHintHash();
-
-        lastResultReg = -1;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -6365,7 +6368,6 @@ public void visit(FormatNode node) {
         // Format declarations are handled at the JVM compilation stage.
         // When the interpreter backend processes the AST, formats are already
         // registered, so this is a no-op.
-        lastResultReg = -1;
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/CompileOperator.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/CompileOperator.java
index 81c528db6..f7ded8410 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/CompileOperator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/bytecode/CompileOperator.java
@@ -1040,11 +1040,13 @@ public static void visitOperator(BytecodeCompiler bytecodeCompiler, OperatorNode
                 }
                 java.util.List<Integer> hashIdxs = bytecodeCompiler.symbolTable.getMyHashIndicesInScope(0);
                 for (int idx : hashIdxs) {
+                    if (idx == exprReg) continue;
                     bytecodeCompiler.emit(Opcodes.SCOPE_EXIT_CLEANUP_HASH);
                     bytecodeCompiler.emitReg(idx);
                 }
                 java.util.List<Integer> arrayIdxs = bytecodeCompiler.symbolTable.getMyArrayIndicesInScope(0);
                 for (int idx : arrayIdxs) {
+                    if (idx == exprReg) continue;
                     bytecodeCompiler.emit(Opcodes.SCOPE_EXIT_CLEANUP_ARRAY);
                     bytecodeCompiler.emitReg(idx);
                 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/jvm/EmitBlock.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/jvm/EmitBlock.java
index 1b8fe6a97..70a21b303 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/jvm/EmitBlock.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/backend/jvm/EmitBlock.java
@@ -225,7 +225,10 @@ public static void emitBlock(EmitterVisitor emitterVisitor, BlockNode node) {
         int lastNonNullIndex = -1;
         for (int i = list.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
             Node elem = list.get(i);
-            if (elem != null && !(elem instanceof AbstractNode ab && (ab.getBooleanAnnotation("compileTimeOnly") || ab.getBooleanAnnotation("noReturnValue")))) {
+            if (elem != null
+                    && !(elem instanceof CompilerFlagNode)
+                    && !(elem instanceof FormatNode)
+                    && !(elem instanceof AbstractNode ab && (ab.getBooleanAnnotation("compileTimeOnly") || ab.getBooleanAnnotation("noReturnValue")))) {
                 lastNonNullIndex = i;
                 break;
             }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/operators/ModuleOperators.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/operators/ModuleOperators.java
index 8d420e9f4..c33a6d2c4 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/operators/ModuleOperators.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/operators/ModuleOperators.java
@@ -873,7 +873,6 @@ public static RuntimeScalar require(RuntimeScalar runtimeScalar) {
             String message;
             if (err.isEmpty() && ioErr.isEmpty()) {
                 // File executed but returned undef
-                // For non-moduleTrue, undef means failure
                 message = fileName + " did not return a true value";
                 throw new PerlCompilerException(message);
             } else if (err.isEmpty()) {
@@ -920,7 +919,6 @@ public static RuntimeScalar require(RuntimeScalar runtimeScalar) {
 
         // Check if the result is false (0 or empty string but not undef)
         if (!result.getBoolean()) {
-            // False values cause failure in require
             String message = fileName + " did not return a true value";
             // Remove from %INC since it didn't return true
             incHash.elements.remove(fileName);
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
index 2c0755f9b..63338eeb0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
@@ -516,6 +516,14 @@ static int handleEscapeSequences(String s, StringBuilder sb, int c, int offset,
                     sb.append(String.format("x{%X}", hexVal));
                     offset = pos - 1; // -1 because caller will increment
                 }
+            } else if (c2 == 'e') {
+                // Perl \e is ESC (0x1B); Java regex has no \e alias
+                sb.setLength(sb.length() - 1);
+                sb.append("\\x1B");
+            } else if (c2 == 'a') {
+                // Perl \a is BEL (0x07)
+                sb.setLength(sb.length() - 1);
+                sb.append("\\x07");
             } else {
                 // Other escape sequences, pass through
                 sb.append(Character.toChars(c2));
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RuntimeRegex.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RuntimeRegex.java
index 2b6c4b162..7e39af73f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RuntimeRegex.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RuntimeRegex.java
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ private static boolean hasTopLevelAlternation(String pattern) {
     private static boolean isEscapedRequiredLiteral(char ch) {
         return switch (ch) {
             case 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'G', 'H', 'K', 'N', 'P', 'R', 'S', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Z',
-                 'b', 'c', 'd', 'g', 'h', 'k', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'r', 's', 't', 'v', 'w', 'x', 'z',
+                 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g', 'h', 'k', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'r', 's', 't', 'v', 'w', 'x', 'z',
                  '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9' -> false;
             default -> true;
         };
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/eval_return_hash.t b/src/test/resources/unit/eval_return_hash.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..17d6dcaf5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/eval_return_hash.t
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More;
+
+# Regression: eval STRING subs must return flattened my-hash values.
+# Params::ValidationCompiler (DateTime stack) depends on this.
+
+{
+    my $code = eval q{
+        sub {
+            my %args;
+            if (@_ % 2 == 0) { %args = @_; }
+            return %args;
+        }
+    };
+    ok($code, 'eval_closure-style sub compiles');
+
+    my %got = $code->(name => 'foo');
+    is($got{name}, 'foo', 'eval sub returns hash pairs from return %hash');
+
+    $code = eval q{
+        sub {
+            my %args = (name => 'bar');
+            return %args;
+        }
+    };
+    %got = $code->();
+    is($got{name}, 'bar', 'eval sub returns preset hash via return %hash');
+}
+
+done_testing();
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/regex/regex_escape_e.t b/src/test/resources/unit/regex/regex_escape_e.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..027a075e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/regex/regex_escape_e.t
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More;
+
+# Regression: Perl regex \e must match ESC (0x1B). Text::ANSI::Util uses \e\[[0-9;]+m.
+
+my $esc = "\e";
+ok($esc =~ /\e/, 'm// matches ESC via \\e');
+ok($esc =~ qr/\e/, 'qr// matches ESC via \\e');
+
+my $ansi_reset = "\e[0m";
+ok($ansi_reset =~ /\e\[[0-9;]+m/, 'ANSI SGR reset matches common detection regex');
+
+done_testing();
diff --git a/src/test/resources/unit/require_module_return.t b/src/test/resources/unit/require_module_return.t
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..718dac3c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/resources/unit/require_module_return.t
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env perl
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+use Test::More;
+use File::Temp qw(tempdir);
+use File::Spec;
+
+# Regression: do/require return the last *runtime* statement value.
+# use/no pragmas and sub declarations are compile-time and must not
+# clobber an earlier runtime assignment such as our $VERSION = '...'.
+
+my $dir = tempdir(CLEANUP => 1);
+require File::Basename;
+require File::Path;
+
+sub write_mod {
+    my ($name, $body) = @_;
+    my $path = File::Spec->catfile($dir, split m{::}, $name) . '.pm';
+    File::Path::make_path(File::Basename::dirname($path));
+    open my $fh, '>', $path or die $!;
+    print {$fh} $body;
+    close $fh;
+    return $path;
+}
+
+{
+    my $path = write_mod('Ok::Mod', <<'PM');
+package Ok::Mod;
+our $VERSION = '9.87';
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+sub foo {}
+PM
+    {
+        local @INC = ($dir, @INC);
+        my $inc_key = 'Ok/Mod.pm';
+        delete $INC{$inc_key};
+        my $do = do $path;
+        is($do, '9.87', 'do returns last runtime assignment');
+        delete $INC{$inc_key};
+        my $req = eval { require Ok::Mod; 1 };
+        is($req, 1, 'require succeeds without trailing 1;');
+        is($Ok::Mod::VERSION, '9.87', 'package version preserved');
+    }
+}
+
+{
+    my $path = write_mod('Bad::Mod', <<'PM');
+package Bad::Mod;
+our $VERSION = '1.0';
+0;
+PM
+    {
+        local @INC = ($dir, @INC);
+        delete $INC{'Bad/Mod.pm'};
+        my $ok = eval { require Bad::Mod; 1 };
+        ok(!$ok, 'explicit false last statement still fails require');
+        like($@, qr/did not return a true value/, 'expected require error');
+    }
+}
+
+done_testing();