perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "printYAPE::Regex::Explain->new( qr/(?!)/ )->explain();" The regular expression: (?-imsx:(?!)) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (?!) fail ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------