Perhaps japhy's YAPE::Regex::Explain is what you're after e.g 
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;

print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/this.*(?:that)?(?!another)/)
      ->explain;

__output__

The regular expression:

(?-imsx:this.*(?:that)?(?!another))

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):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  this                     'this'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  .*                       any character except \n (0 or more times
                           (matching the most amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (?:                      group, but do not capture (optional
                           (matching the most amount possible)):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    that                     'that'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )?                       end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (?!                      look ahead to see if there is not:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    another                  'another'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of look-ahead
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[download]
HTH

_________
broquaint

In reply to Re: Regular expression to English translation by broquaint
in thread Regular expression to English translation by Wassercrats

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