Uh-huh. . . it just rips it away is not really surprising since that is what you're asking this regex to do!

To paraphrase, Wherever a non-digit , non-lowercase alphabet char , ascii char NOT between 0x80 and 0xA5, non_, non! non? non. non* non(space) non- is found, replace it with nothing.

Let's assume that you wish to accept alphanumerics, a selection of punctuation chars, and anything between \x80 and \xA5.

I am as puzzled as you

Update: I'll keep quiet now.See above