perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "my $rex = qr(s/.*\/(.*).lib/$1/); print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new($rex)->explain" The regular expression: (?-imsx:s/.*\/(.*).lib//) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- s/ 's/' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \/ '/' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . any character except \n ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lib// 'lib//' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ---------------------------------------------------------------------- #### perl -MYAPE::Regex::Explain -e "print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new('.*\/(.*).lib')->explain" The regular expression: (?-imsx:.*\/(.*).lib) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \/ '/' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- .* any character except \n (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- . any character except \n ---------------------------------------------------------------------- lib 'lib' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------