But you can do it from numbered capture groups? In fact they talk about referring to an earlier capture group to invoke recursion. As for the \q<name> -- that was a typo... It's supposed to be \k<name> (or \k'name'), also for the sake of python/pcre, (?P=name) is also accepted. ARG...I see the prob: It is an error to refer to a name not defined by a "(?<NAME>)" earlier in the pattern. the (2) refer's to the 2nd capture group from within the capture group -- for the name that's not ok, the name has to already be defined (hit the end paren)... Dang!