Well, I was thinking of the string after the "=" being long, but the greedy version still wins. Perhaps the regex works from the back even when non-greedy?

My (incorrect, apparently) thinking was that /[^=]+=/ will have to check the whole string to make sure there isn't a second "=" later on while /[^=]+?=/ could just stop at the first "=" (provided the rest of the regex matched). I'd be interested in any insights on this. [ Didn't I make this exact same mental error before... I'll have to go check and then double check the read-only tab on my brain ]

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")