Why doesn't the .* consume the entire string in this Perl regex?

Question

Why doesn't the first print statement output what I expect:

first = This is a test string, sec = This is a test string 

Since both * and + are greedy, why does the the inner * i.e. inside the "((" in the first match not consuming the entire string?

use strict;
use warnings;

my $string = "This is a test string";
$string =~ /((.*)*)/; 
print "first = $1, sec = $2\n";  #prints "first = This is a test string, sec ="

$string =~ /((.+)*)/;
print "first = $1, sec = $2\n";  #prints "first = This is a test string, sec = This is a test string"

Answer 1

In the first regex .* is matched two times. The first time it matches the whole string. The second time it matches the empty string at the end, because .* matches the empty string when there is nothing else to match.

This does not happen with the other regex because .+ can't match the empty string.

Edit: As to what goes where: $2 will contain what is matched the last time .* / .+ are applied. $1 will contain what is matched by (.*)* / (.+)*, i.e. the whole string.

Answer 2

Running it with "use re 'debug'" results in:

Compiling REx "((.*)*)"
Final program:
   1: OPEN1 (3)
   3:   CURLYX[0] {0,32767} (12)
   5:     OPEN2 (7)
   7:       STAR (9) # <====
   8:         REG_ANY (0)
   9:     CLOSE2 (11)
  11:   WHILEM[1/1] (0)
  12:   NOTHING (13)
  13: CLOSE1 (15)
  15: END (0)
minlen 0 

Matching REx "((.*)*)" against "This is a test string"
   0 <> <This is a >         |  1:OPEN1(3)
   0 <> <This is a >         |  3:CURLYX[0] {0,32767}(12)
   0 <> <This is a >         | 11:  WHILEM[1/1](0)
                                    whilem: matched 0 out of 0..32767
   0 <> <This is a >         |  5:    OPEN2(7)
   0 <> <This is a >         |  7:    STAR(9) # <====
                                      REG_ANY can match 21 times out of 2147483647...
  21 < test string> <>       |  9:      CLOSE2(11)
  21 < test string> <>       | 11:      WHILEM[1/1](0)
                                        whilem: matched 1 out of 0..32767
  21 < test string> <>       |  5:        OPEN2(7)
  21 < test string> <>       |  7:        STAR(9) # <====

  # This is where the outputs really start to diverge
  # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          REG_ANY can match 0 times out of 2147483647...
  21 < test string> <>       |  9:          CLOSE2(11) # <==== Succeeded
  21 < test string> <>       | 11:          WHILEM[1/1](0)
                                            whilem: matched 2 out of 0..32767
                                            whilem: empty match detected, trying continuation...
  # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  21 < test string> <>       | 12:            NOTHING(13)
  21 < test string> <>       | 13:            CLOSE1(15)
  21 < test string> <>       | 15:            END(0)
Match successful!

Compiling REx "((.+)*)"
Final program:
   1: OPEN1 (3)
   3:   CURLYX[0] {0,32767} (12)
   5:     OPEN2 (7)
   7:       PLUS (9) # <====
   8:         REG_ANY (0)
   9:     CLOSE2 (11)
  11:   WHILEM[1/1] (0)
  12:   NOTHING (13)
  13: CLOSE1 (15)
  15: END (0)
minlen 0 

Matching REx "((.+)*)" against "This is a test string"
   0 <> <This is a >         |  1:OPEN1(3)
   0 <> <This is a >         |  3:CURLYX[0] {0,32767}(12)
   0 <> <This is a >         | 11:  WHILEM[1/1](0)
                                    whilem: matched 0 out of 0..32767
   0 <> <This is a >         |  5:    OPEN2(7)
   0 <> <This is a >         |  7:    PLUS(9) # <====
                                      REG_ANY can match 21 times out of 2147483647...
  21 < test string> <>       |  9:      CLOSE2(11)
  21 < test string> <>       | 11:      WHILEM[1/1](0)
                                        whilem: matched 1 out of 0..32767
  21 < test string> <>       |  5:        OPEN2(7)
  21 < test string> <>       |  7:        PLUS(9) # <====

  # This is where the outputs really start to diverge
  # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          REG_ANY can match 0 times out of 2147483647...
                                          failed... # <==== Failed
                                        whilem: failed, trying continuation...
  # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  21 < test string> <>       | 12:        NOTHING(13)
  21 < test string> <>       | 13:        CLOSE1(15)
  21 < test string> <>       | 15:        END(0)
Match successful!