m/^(11+)(\1)+$/ The regular expression: (?-imsx:^(11+)(\1)+$) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ the beginning of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 '1' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1+ '1' (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \2 (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \1 what was matched by capture \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- )+ end of \2 (NOTE: because you're using a quantifier on this capture, only the LAST repetition of the captured pattern will be stored in \2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- $ before an optional \n, and the end of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ---------------------------------------------------------------------- m/^(11+){2,}$/ The regular expression: (?-imsx:^(11+){2,}$) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ^ the beginning of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ( group and capture to \1 (at least 2 times (matching the most amount possible)): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 '1' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1+ '1' (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ){2,} end of \1 (NOTE: because you're using a quantifier on this capture, only the LAST repetition of the captured pattern will be stored in \1) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- $ before an optional \n, and the end of the string ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------