The + character will make your regex greedy. The ? character will make your regex lazy.

gistfile1.js

//the plus character is greedy. It matches the preceding character as many times as possible.

str = "maroooooooooned on a desert island"
reg = /(o+)/
res = str.match(reg); //=> 'ooooooooo'

//we can make the plus operator lazy by adding a question mark after it.
//note that the only thing changed is the insertion of the special character "?", which tells the RegEx plus operator to calm down and not be such a glutton for o's.

str = "maroooooooooned on a desert island"
reg = /(o+?)/ 
res = str.match(reg); //=> 'o'