My only complaint about the regex syntax is that it does not allow you to separate things out with whitespace, or add comments about what the chunked units. The x modifier fixes both.
What you traditionally see with a complex RE for a complex pattern is the same as what you traditionally see with someone writing complex SQL statements on a single line. Stop trying to treat it like a black box, and treat it as a programming language in its own right. Use whitespace, indentation, and comments (when necessary) to communicate intent as well as just to make it do its job.
Other than that, regular expressions say what they mean and mean what they say very concisely directly. Particularly the PCRE variants of the language. I consider that conciseness and directness a virtue.
What you traditionally see with a complex RE for a complex pattern is the same as what you traditionally see with someone writing complex SQL statements on a single line. Stop trying to treat it like a black box, and treat it as a programming language in its own right. Use whitespace, indentation, and comments (when necessary) to communicate intent as well as just to make it do its job.
Other than that, regular expressions say what they mean and mean what they say very concisely directly. Particularly the PCRE variants of the language. I consider that conciseness and directness a virtue.