in reply to what the pattern searches for

Sure. To get an annotated description:
use YAPE::Regex::Explain; my $pattern='(\n\s*[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n\s*<page>\s*\n|\n\s*-[0-9]{1,3}-\s*\ +n\s*<page>\s*\n|\n\s*[A-Za-z]-[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n\s*<page>\s*\n|\n\s*page +\s*[0-9]{1,3}\s*of\s*[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n)'; print YAPE::Regex::Explain->new($pattern)->explain;
which produces:
The regular expression: (?-imsx:(\n\s*[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n\s*<page>\s*\n|\n\s*-[0-9]{1,3}-\s*\n\s*< +page>\s*\n|\n\s*[A-Za-z]-[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n\s*<page>\s*\n|\n\s*page\s*[0 +-9]{1,3}\s*of\s*[0-9]{1,3}\s*\n)) 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: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [0-9]{1,3} any character of: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 3 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <page> '<page>' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - '-' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [0-9]{1,3} any character of: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 3 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - '-' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <page> '<page>' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [A-Za-z] any character of: 'A' to 'Z', 'a' to 'z' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - '-' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [0-9]{1,3} any character of: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 3 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- <page> '<page>' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | OR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- page 'page' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [0-9]{1,3} any character of: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 3 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- of 'of' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [0-9]{1,3} any character of: '0' to '9' (between 1 and 3 times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \s* whitespace (\n, \r, \t, \f, and " ") (0 or more times (matching the most amount possible)) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- \n '\n' (newline) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of \1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ) end of grouping ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, if you would tell us something about the context in which this is used (other than just that it is used on html), maybe a higher-level description would be possible.