^ start at the beginning of the line ([\d\/]+) match and save a bunch of digits and /'s .*? lazily match and ignore stuff until... (Event.*?ed) match and save of 'Event...ed' match but ignore the following space \( match a literal paren (\d+) match and save a bunch of digits \), match and ignore literal paren, comma, and space (.*) match and save anything until... $ the end of the string