In addition to all answers you already have, in understanding/learning regex-en YAPE::Regex::Explain can be very useful: 
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;
print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/((\w|')+)/)->explain();
__DATA__
The regular expression:

(?-imsx:((\w|')+))

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):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \1:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    (                        group and capture to \2 (1 or more times
                             (matching the most amount possible)):
----------------------------------------------------------------------
      \w                       word characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, _)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
     |                        OR
----------------------------------------------------------------------
      '                        '\''
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    )+                       end of \2 (NOTE: because you're using a
                             quantifier on this capture, only the
                             LAST repetition of the captured pattern
                             will be stored in \2)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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In reply to Re: Regexp explanation by eXile
in thread Regexp explanation by Anonymous Monk

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