c:\@Work\Perl\monks>perl -wMstrict -le "use YAPE::Regex::Explain; ;; print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/\.[docx|pdf]$/)->explain; " The regular expression: (?-imsx:\.[docx|pdf]$) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \. '.' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [docx|pdf] any character of: 'd', 'o', 'c', 'x', '|', 'p', 'd', 'f' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- $ before an optional \n, and the end of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------