###Negative and Positive LookAhead
Negative lookahead is indispensable if you want to match something not followed by something else. When explaining character classes, this tutorial explained why you cannot use a negated character class to match a q not followed by a u. Negative lookahead provides the solution: q(?!u). The negative lookahead construct is the pair of parentheses, with the opening parenthesis followed by a question mark and an exclamation point. Inside the lookahead, we have the trivial regex u.
Positive lookahead works just the same. q(?=u) matches a q that is followed by a u, without making the u part of the match. The positive lookahead construct is a pair of parentheses, with the opening parenthesis followed by a question mark and an equals sign.