Deciphering regex is exactly like being an archaeologist trying to translate ancient hieroglyphics with nothing but a magnifying glass and sheer determination. That cryptic pattern of slashes, dots, asterisks, and parentheses might as well be sacred texts carved by a civilization that communicated exclusively in escape characters. The worst part? You wrote it yourself six months ago and left zero comments. Now you're squinting at ^(?:(?:\w+:)?\/\/)?(?:[\w-]+\.)+[a-z]{2,}(?::\d+)?(?:\/\S*)?$ wondering if it's validating a URL or summoning an elder god.