use warnings; use strict; use YAPE::Regex::Explain; print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new('[^0-9]{1,1}')->explain(); __END__ The regular expression: (?-imsx:[^0-9]{1,1}) 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): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [^0-9]{1,1} any character except: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 1 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------