t matches the string 'last'. The special characters are: "." Matches any character except a newline. "^" Matches the start of the string. "$" Matches the end of the string or just before the newline at the end of the string. "*" Matches 0 or more (greedy) repetitions of the preceding RE. Greedy means that it will match as many repetitions as possible. "+" Matches 1 or more (greedy) repetitions of the preceding RE. "?" Matches 0 or 1 (greedy) of the preceding RE. *?,+?,?? Non-greedy versions of the previous three special characters. {m,n} Matches from m to n repetitions of the preceding RE. {m,n}? Non-greedy version of the above. "\\" Either escapes special characters or signals a special sequence. [] Indicates a set of characters. A "^" as the first character indicates a complementing set. "|" A|B, creates an RE that will match either A or B. (...) Matches the RE inside the parentheses. The contents can be retrieved or matched later in the string. (?aiLmsux) The letters set the corresponding flags defined below. (?:...) Non-grouping version of regular parentheses. (?P...) The substring matched by the group is accessible by name. (?P=name) Matches the text matched earlier by the group named name. (?#...) A comment; ignored. (?=...) Matches if ... matches next, but doesn't consume the string. (?!...) Matches if ... doesn't match next. (?<=...) Matches if preceded by ... (must be fixed length). (?