C:\>perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/^Posted by (.*?) on /)->explain()" The regular expression: (?-imsx:^Posted by (.*?) on ) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ the beginning of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted by 'Posted by ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .*? any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the least amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- on ' on ' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------