diff --git a/perl.xml b/perl.xml
index fc2fd41..21e24e1 100644
--- a/perl.xml
+++ b/perl.xml
@@ -660,3 +660,4 @@
         <Detect2Chars attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" char="\" char1="]" />
-        <RegExpr attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" String="\[:^?[a-z]+:\]" />
+        <!-- JGM:  added \ before ^ in the following regex -->
+        <RegExpr attribute="Pattern Character Class" context="#stay" String="\[:\^?[a-z]+:\]" />
         <DetectChar attribute="Pattern Internal Operator" context="#pop" char="]" />
