write_rich_string question

[Mark]

Hello

I'm trying use write_rich_string to write a mixed format string passed to it as a scalar variable.

What I would like to see are the red brackets in the following

[128-A-G-snp;147-CTGTCA-GAGTCC-complex 41.0]

However, what I do see is

$red,'[','128-A-G-snp;147-CTGTCA-GAGTCC-complex 41.5',$red,'] '

my$hyperlink_format = $workbook->add_format(
  color     => 'blue',
  underline => 1,
);
my$red=$workbook->add_format( color => 'red' );
my$row_cnt=@$rows;
my$col_cnt=@{$$rows[0]};
for (my$i=0;$i<$row_cnt;$i++){
  for (my$j=0;$j<$col_cnt;$j++){
    if (($j == 3) && ($i != 0)){
      $worksheet->write( $i, $j, $$rows[$i][$j] , $hyperlink_format, 'alignment' );
      print LOG "makeExcel: \$\$rows[$i][$j]\t$$rows[$i][$j]\n";
    }elsif((($j == 6)||($j == 8)||($j == 10)) && ($i != 0)){
      my@row=split "]",$$rows[$i][$j];
      my@row_markup=();
      for my$group (@row){
        if ($group=~/^\[(.+)/){
          push(@row_markup,"\$red,'[','$1',\$red,'] '");
        }
      }
      my$row_markup=join '',@row_markup;


      print LOG "\$worksheet->write_rich_string($i, $j, $row_markup)\n";


      $worksheet->write_rich_string($i, $j, $row_markup);
      #$worksheet->write_rich_string($i, $j, $red,'[','128-A-G-snp;147-CTGTCA-GAGTCC-complex 41.0',$red,']');


    }else{
      $worksheet->write( $i, $j, $$rows[$i][$j] );
    }
  }
}

From my log file:

$ grep write_rich_string log

$worksheet->write_rich_string(1, 6, $red,'[','1 100.0',$red,'] ')

$worksheet->write_rich_string(1, 8, $red,'[','147-CTGTCA-GAGTCC-complex 44.0',$red,'] ')

$worksheet->write_rich_string(1, 10, $red,'[','128-A-G-snp;147-CTGTCA-GAGTCC-complex 41.5',$red,'] ')

Note that  when I uncomment the hard-coded line in the code (and comment out the line above it, I get the result I desire, namely read brackets.

So it seems like write_rich_string is not interpolating the interpolating $row_markup.

Is there an error in my syntax, a different function for this purpose, or does Excel::Writer::XLSX simly not do it?

Thanks very much for your help.

Mark