$ perl -le '("\n"x64_000)=~/\A(?:${\q[^$\n]}){1,32766}/m;print length $&' 32766 Compiling REx `\A(?:^$\n){1,32766}' size 10 first at 2 1: SBOL(2) 2: CURLYM[0] {1,32766}(10) 4: MBOL(5) 5: MEOL(6) 6: EXACT < >(8) 8: SUCCEED(0) 9: NOTHING(10) 10: END(0) anchored ` ' at 0 (checking anchored noscan) anchored(SBOL) minlen 1 $ perl -le '("\n"x64_000)=~/\A(?:${\q[^$\n]})+/m;print length $&' 64000 Compiling REx `\A(?:^$\n)+' size 10 first at 2 1: SBOL(2) 2: CURLYM[0] {1,32767}(10) REG_INFTY----------^ 4: MBOL(5) 5: MEOL(6) 6: EXACT < >(8) 8: SUCCEED(0) 9: NOTHING(10) 10: END(0) anchored ` ' at 0 (checking anchored noscan) anchored(SBOL) minlen 1