#!/usr/bin/perl use warnings; use strict; use Test::More; my $r = qr/^-? # Can start with a minus. (:? # Non capturing group. [0-9]+ # Digits. Does not match Unicode digits as \d does. (?: # Another group, this one will be optional. \. # The dot. Backslashed to lose its special meaning. [0-9]+ # Digits again. )? # End of the inner group, the ? makes it optional. ) # End of the outer group. $ # And nothing more. /x; like ($_, $r) for qw/ 4 -7 0.656 -67.35555 /; unlike($_, $r) for qw/ 5. 56F .32 -.04 /; done_testing();