lanx@lanx-1005HA:~$ perl -Mre=debug -e' print "aaa" =~ /(a+){1}+a/ ' Compiling REx "(a+){1}+a" Final program: 1: SUSPEND (16) 3: CURLYX[0] {1,1} (13) 5: OPEN1 (7) 7: PLUS (10) 8: EXACT (0) 10: CLOSE1 (12) 12: WHILEM (0) 13: NOTHING (14) 14: SUCCEED (0) 15: TAIL (16) 16: EXACT (18) 18: END (0) anchored "a" at 0 floating "aa" at 0..2147483647 (checking floating) minlen 2 Guessing start of match in sv for REx "(a+){1}+a" against "aaa" Found floating substr "aa" at offset 0... Found anchored substr "a" at offset 0... Guessed: match at offset 0 Matching REx "(a+){1}+a" against "aaa" 0 <> | 1:SUSPEND(16) 0 <> | 3: CURLYX[0] {1,1}(13) 0 <> | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 0 out of 1..1 0 <> | 5: OPEN1(7) 0 <> | 7: PLUS(10) EXACT can match 3 times out of 2147483647... 3 <> | 10: CLOSE1(12) 3 <> | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 1 out of 1..1 3 <> | 13: NOTHING(14) 3 <> | 14: SUCCEED(0) subpattern success... 3 <> | 16:EXACT (18) failed... 1 | 1:SUSPEND(16) 1 | 3: CURLYX[0] {1,1}(13) 1 | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 0 out of 1..1 1 | 5: OPEN1(7) 1 | 7: PLUS(10) EXACT can match 2 times out of 2147483647... 3 <> | 10: CLOSE1(12) 3 <> | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 1 out of 1..1 3 <> | 13: NOTHING(14) 3 <> | 14: SUCCEED(0) subpattern success... 3 <> | 16:EXACT (18) failed... 2 | 1:SUSPEND(16) 2 | 3: CURLYX[0] {1,1}(13) 2 | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 0 out of 1..1 2 | 5: OPEN1(7) 2 | 7: PLUS(10) EXACT can match 1 times out of 2147483647... 3 <> | 10: CLOSE1(12) 3 <> | 12: WHILEM(0) whilem: matched 1 out of 1..1 3 <> | 13: NOTHING(14) 3 <> | 14: SUCCEED(0) subpattern success... 3 <> | 16:EXACT (18) failed... Match failed Freeing REx: "(a+){1}+a"