my $digit = qr/^\d+$/; my $not_digit = reverse_regex_assertion( $digit ); print 0+(1234 =~ $digit), 0+(1234 =~ $not_digit); sub reverse_regex_assertion { my $re = shift; return qr/(?(?{$re})(?!)|(?=))/; } # That expression broken into pieces #qr/(? # Conditional (?(expr) (true) | (false) ) # (?{$re}) # Test $re expression # (?!) # Assert false # | # OR # (?=) # Assert true # )/x