#!/usr/bin/env perl use strict; use warnings; use YAPE::Regex::Explain; print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(',(?![\w,]+[>)])')->explain(); __END__ The regular expression: (?-imsx:,(?![\w,]+[>)])) matches as follows: NODE EXPLANATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?-imsx: group, but do not capture (case-sensitive) (with ^ and $ matching normally) (with . not matching \n) (matching whitespace and # normally): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- , ',' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?! look ahead to see if there is not: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [\w,]+ any character of: word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _), ',' (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [>)] any character of: '>', ')' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of look-ahead ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------