our $operator_re = qr/
    (?:
	# # Operators with two characters # 
	\|\||&&|<<|>>|--|\+\+|->|==
    |
	# Operators with one or two characters
	# followed by an equals sign.
	(?:<<|>>|\+|-|\*|\/|%|&|\||\^)
	=
    |
	$one_char_op_re
    )
/x;