#!/usr/bin/perl --

use strict;
use warnings;
use re 'debug';


my $str = "Test*.Value";
print "$1 $2\n" if($str=~/(.*?)\*(.*?)/);
__END__
Compiling REx `(.*?)\*(.*?)'
size 17 Got 140 bytes for offset annotations.
first at 4
synthetic stclass `ANYOF[\0-\11\13-\377{unicode_all}]'.
   1: OPEN1(3)
   3:   MINMOD(4)
   4:   STAR(6)
   5:     REG_ANY(0)
   6: CLOSE1(8)
   8: EXACT <*>(10)
  10: OPEN2(12)
  12:   MINMOD(13)
  13:   STAR(15)
  14:     REG_ANY(0)
  15: CLOSE2(17)
  17: END(0)
floating `*' at 0..2147483647 (checking floating) stclass `ANYOF[\0-\1
+1\13-\377{unicode_all}]' minlen 1
Offsets: [17]
        1[1] 0[0] 4[1] 3[1] 2[1] 5[1] 0[0] 6[2] 0[0] 8[1] 0[0] 11[1] 1
+0[1] 9[1] 12[1] 0[0] 13[0]
Guessing start of match, REx `(.*?)\*(.*?)' against `Test*.Value'...
Found floating substr `*' at offset 4...
Does not contradict STCLASS...
Guessed: match at offset 0
Matching REx `(.*?)\*(.*?)' against `Test*.Value'
Matching stclass `ANYOF[\0-\11\13-\377{unicode_all}]' against `Test*.V
+alue'
  Setting an EVAL scope, savestack=5
   0 <> <Test*.Value>     |  1:  OPEN1
   0 <> <Test*.Value>     |  3:  MINMOD
   0 <> <Test*.Value>     |  4:  STAR
  Setting an EVAL scope, savestack=5
                           REG_ANY can match 4 times out of 4...
   4 <Test> <*.Value>     |  6:    CLOSE1
   4 <Test> <*.Value>     |  8:    EXACT <*>
   5 <Test*> <.Value>     | 10:    OPEN2
   5 <Test*> <.Value>     | 12:    MINMOD
   5 <Test*> <.Value>     | 13:    STAR
  Setting an EVAL scope, savestack=5
   5 <Test*> <.Value>     | 15:      CLOSE2
   5 <Test*> <.Value>     | 17:      END
Match successful!
Test
Freeing REx: `"(.*?)\\*(.*?)"'
[download]

#!/usr/bin/perl --
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;
print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new(qr/(.*?)\*(.*?)/)->explain,$/
__END__
The regular expression:

(?-imsx:(.*?)\*(.*?))

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:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    .*?                      any character except \n (0 or more times
                             (matching the least amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  \*                       '*'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  (                        group and capture to \2:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
    .*?                      any character except \n (0 or more times
                             (matching the least amount possible))
----------------------------------------------------------------------
  )                        end of \2
----------------------------------------------------------------------
)                        end of grouping
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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