Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> writes:

>> (with-temp-buffer
>>   (insert "xxxxyyyy")
>>   (and (re-search-backward "x+y*" nil t)
>>        (match-string 0))) ;=> "xyyyy"
>>
>> Non-greedy wouldn't match any "y"s.  It's a bit tricky to explain both
>> correctly and clearly...
>
> Ok, good example.  You convinced me that the sentence we once had was
> actually quite good.

Actually, the manual has a pretty good explanation, maybe we can just
link to it: