$ perl5.14.1 junk Compiling REx "-?\p{Nd}" synthetic stclass "ANYOF{i}[\-][{non-utf8-latin1-all}{unicode}{outside bitmap}+utf8::Nd]". Final program: 1: CURLY {0,1} (5) 3: EXACT <-> (0) 5: ANYOF[{unicode}{outside bitmap}+utf8::Nd] (16) 16: END (0) stclass ANYOF{i}[\-][{non-utf8-latin1-all}{unicode}{outside bitmap}+utf8::Nd] minlen 1 Matching REx "-?\p{Nd}" against "1" Matching stclass ANYOF{i}[\-][{non-utf8-latin1-all}{unicode}{outside bitmap}+utf8::Nd] against "1" (1 bytes) 0 <> <1> | 1:CURLY {0,1}(5) EXACT <-> can match 0 times out of 1... 0 <> <1> | 5: ANYOF[{unicode}{outside bitmap}0-9...+utf8::Nd](16) 1 <1> <> | 16: END(0) Match successful! Matches Freeing REx: "-?\p{Nd}"