preg_match too greedy

I'm trying to figure out how to test if a string matches *exactly* another string, using a regexp pattern. The manual says that ereg() is deprecated (in favour of what?) and preg_match() is giving me trouble. The problem is that I'm passing the end-of-line delimiter ($) but it seems to be ignored. An example: -- snip -- header('Content-type: text/plain'); $url = '/foo(/)?'; $test = 'foo/bar'; $pattern = '%^'.$url.'$%U'; echo "${url} :: ${test}\n"; echo (preg_match($pattern, $test) != false) ? 'match' : 'no match'; -- snip -- I expected 'no match' but get 'match'. The reason for the (/)? is to allow for a trailing slash. I've added a '$' to specify that I want to test for the exact string. However, preg_match() tests for the existence of a string and appears to ignore the '$'. How do I do this?