How to match does the if condition starts with / using Perl?

Use of uninitialized value in bitwise xor (^) at

open my $project_file, '<', $input_dir;
chomp(my @store_files = <$project_file>);
#print @store_files;
close $project_file;
foreach my $temp_line(@store_files)
{
if( $temp_line =~ /^EVISION_OCATION:/){
my @fetch_path=split (':',$temp_line);
my $new_path=$fetch_path[1];
print $new_path;
last;
}
}

if(my $new_path ^/)
{
$input_dir=$new_path;
}
else
{
$input_dir.=$new_path;
}