Tip #9 from the Basic debugging checklist: 
use warnings;
use strict;
use YAPE::Regex::Explain;
print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new('Account number (.*?)')->explain();

__END__

The regular expression:

(?-imsx:Account number (.*?))

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

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Update: fixed typo (thanks Anomalousmonk)

In reply to Re: Regex Question in Perl by toolic
in thread Regex Question in Perl by mmittiga17

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