diff --git a/.eslintrc.json b/.eslintrc.json
index 46e07bb95..705789e7b 100644
--- a/.eslintrc.json
+++ b/.eslintrc.json
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
     "eslint:all",
     "plugin:jsdoc/recommended",
     "plugin:n/recommended",
+    "plugin:regexp/recommended",
     "plugin:unicorn/all"
   ],
   "ignorePatterns": [
@@ -200,6 +201,11 @@
     "n/prefer-promises/dns": "error",
     "n/prefer-promises/fs": "error",
 
+    "regexp/no-empty-alternative": "off",
+    "regexp/no-super-linear-backtracking": "off",
+    "regexp/no-unused-capturing-group": "off",
+    "regexp/no-useless-assertions": "off",
+
     "unicorn/better-regex": "off",
     "unicorn/consistent-function-scoping": "off",
     "unicorn/filename-case": "off",
diff --git a/demo/markdownlint-browser.js b/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
index 10ffb46b5..b32aa7eab 100644
--- a/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
+++ b/demo/markdownlint-browser.js
@@ -37,14 +37,14 @@ module.exports.newLineRe = newLineRe;
 // Regular expression for matching common front matter (YAML and TOML)
 module.exports.frontMatterRe =
     // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-    /((^---\s*$[^]*?^---\s*$)|(^\+\+\+\s*$[^]*?^(\+\+\+|\.\.\.)\s*$)|(^\{\s*$[^]*?^\}\s*$))(\r\n|\r|\n|$)/m;
+    /((^---\s*$[\s\S]*?^---\s*$)|(^\+\+\+\s*$[\s\S]*?^(\+\+\+|\.\.\.)\s*$)|(^\{\s*$[\s\S]*?^\}\s*$))(\r\n|\r|\n|$)/m;
 // Regular expression for matching the start of inline disable/enable comments
 const inlineCommentStartRe = 
 // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-/(<!--\s*markdownlint-(disable|enable|capture|restore|disable-file|enable-file|disable-line|disable-next-line|configure-file))(?:\s|-->)/ig;
+/(<!--\s*markdownlint-(disable|enable|capture|restore|disable-file|enable-file|disable-line|disable-next-line|configure-file))(?:\s|-->)/gi;
 module.exports.inlineCommentStartRe = inlineCommentStartRe;
 // Regular expression for matching HTML elements
-const htmlElementRe = /<(([A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9-]*)(?:\s[^`>]*)?)\/?>/g;
+const htmlElementRe = /<(([A-Za-z][A-Za-z\d-]*)(?:\s[^`>]*)?)\/?>/g;
 module.exports.htmlElementRe = htmlElementRe;
 // Regular expressions for range matching
 module.exports.listItemMarkerRe = /^([\s>]*)(?:[*+-]|\d+[.)])\s+/;
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@ const emphasisMarkersRe = /[_*]/g;
 const blockquotePrefixRe = /^[>\s]*/;
 module.exports.blockquotePrefixRe = blockquotePrefixRe;
 // Regular expression for reference links (full, collapsed, and shortcut)
-const referenceLinkRe = /!?\\?\[((?:\[[^\]\0]*]|[^[\]\0])*)](?:(?:\[([^\]\0]*)\])|([^(])|$)/g;
+const referenceLinkRe = /!?\\?\[((?:\[[^\]\0]*\]|[^[\]\0])*)\](?:\[([^\]\0]*)\]|([^(])|$)/g;
 // Regular expression for link reference definitions
-const linkReferenceDefinitionRe = /^ {0,3}\[([^\]]*[^\\])]:/;
+const linkReferenceDefinitionRe = /^ {0,3}\[([^\]]*[^\\])\]:/;
 module.exports.linkReferenceDefinitionRe = linkReferenceDefinitionRe;
 // All punctuation characters (normal and full-width)
 const allPunctuation = ".,;:!?。，；：！？";
@@ -2902,7 +2902,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
 const { addError, forEachLine, withinAnyRange } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, lineMetadata } = __webpack_require__(/*! ./cache */ "../lib/cache.js");
-const reversedLinkRe = /(^|[^\\])\(([^()]+)\)\[([^\]^][^\]]*)](?!\()/g;
+const reversedLinkRe = /(^|[^\\])\(([^()]+)\)\[([^\]^][^\]]*)\](?!\()/g;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD011", "no-reversed-links"],
     "description": "Reversed link syntax",
@@ -3163,7 +3163,7 @@ module.exports = {
         filterTokens(params, "heading_open", (token) => {
             if (headingStyleFor(token) === "atx") {
                 const { line, lineNumber } = token;
-                const match = /^(#+)([ \t]{2,})(?:\S)/.exec(line);
+                const match = /^(#+)([ \t]{2,})\S/.exec(line);
                 if (match) {
                     const [, { "length": hashLength }, { "length": spacesLength }] = match;
                     addErrorContext(onError, lineNumber, line.trim(), null, null, [1, hashLength + spacesLength + 1], {
@@ -3346,7 +3346,7 @@ module.exports = {
 // @ts-check
 
 const { addErrorContext, filterTokens } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
-const spaceBeforeHeadingRe = /^((?:\s+)|(?:[>\s]+\s\s))[^>\s]/;
+const spaceBeforeHeadingRe = /^(\s+|[>\s]+\s\s)[^>\s]/;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD023", "heading-start-left", "header-start-left"],
     "description": "Headings must start at the beginning of the line",
@@ -3465,7 +3465,7 @@ module.exports = {
 // @ts-check
 
 const { addError, allPunctuationNoQuestion, escapeForRegExp, forEachHeading } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
-const endOfLineHtmlEntityRe = /&#?[0-9a-zA-Z]+;$/;
+const endOfLineHtmlEntityRe = /&#?[\da-zA-Z]+;$/;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD026", "no-trailing-punctuation"],
     "description": "Trailing punctuation in heading",
@@ -3798,11 +3798,11 @@ module.exports = {
 
 const { addError, forEachLine, htmlElementRe, withinAnyRange, unescapeMarkdown } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, lineMetadata, referenceLinkImageData } = __webpack_require__(/*! ./cache */ "../lib/cache.js");
-const linkDestinationRe = /]\(\s*$/;
+const linkDestinationRe = /\]\(\s*$/;
 // See https://spec.commonmark.org/0.29/#autolinks
 const emailAddressRe = 
 // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-/^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$/;
+/^[\w.!#$%&'*+/=?^`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z\d](?:[a-zA-Z\d-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z\d])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z\d](?:[a-zA-Z\d-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z\d])?)*$/;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD033", "no-inline-html"],
     "description": "Inline HTML",
@@ -3858,7 +3858,7 @@ module.exports = {
 
 const { addErrorContext, filterTokens, funcExpExec, urlFe, withinAnyRange } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, htmlElementRanges, referenceLinkImageData } = __webpack_require__(/*! ./cache */ "../lib/cache.js");
-const htmlLinkRe = /<a(?:|\s[^>]+)>[^<>]*<\/a\s*>/ig;
+const htmlLinkRe = /<a(?:|\s[^>]+)>[^<>]*<\/a\s*>/gi;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD034", "no-bare-urls"],
     "description": "Bare URL used",
@@ -3945,7 +3945,7 @@ module.exports = {
         filterTokens(params, "hr", (token) => {
             const { line, lineNumber } = token;
             let { markup } = token;
-            const match = line.match(/[_*\-\s\t]+$/);
+            const match = line.match(/[_*\-\s]+$/);
             if (match) {
                 markup = match[0].trim();
             }
@@ -4036,8 +4036,8 @@ module.exports = {
 
 const { addErrorContext, emphasisMarkersInContent, forEachLine, isBlankLine, withinAnyRange } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
 const { htmlElementRanges, lineMetadata } = __webpack_require__(/*! ./cache */ "../lib/cache.js");
-const emphasisRe = /(^|[^\\]|\\\\)(?:(\*\*?\*?)|(__?_?))/g;
-const embeddedUnderscoreRe = /([A-Za-z0-9])_([A-Za-z0-9])/g;
+const emphasisRe = /(^|[^\\]|\\\\)(?:(\*{1,3})|(_{1,3}))/g;
+const embeddedUnderscoreRe = /([A-Za-z\d])_([A-Za-z\d])/g;
 const asteriskListItemMarkerRe = /^([\s>]*)\*(\s+)/;
 const leftSpaceRe = /^\s+/;
 const rightSpaceRe = /\s+$/;
@@ -4271,7 +4271,7 @@ module.exports = {
 // @ts-check
 
 const { addErrorContext, filterTokens } = __webpack_require__(/*! ../helpers */ "../helpers/helpers.js");
-const spaceInLinkRe = /\[(?:\s+(?:[^\]]*?)\s*|(?:[^\]]*?)\s+)](?=((?:\([^)]*\))|(?:\[[^\]]*\])))/;
+const spaceInLinkRe = /\[(?:\s[^\]]*|[^\]]*?\s)\](?=(\([^)]*\)|\[[^\]]*\]))/;
 module.exports = {
     "names": ["MD039", "no-space-in-links"],
     "description": "Spaces inside link text",
diff --git a/helpers/helpers.js b/helpers/helpers.js
index 3db2a98ff..5f1560fcd 100644
--- a/helpers/helpers.js
+++ b/helpers/helpers.js
@@ -10,16 +10,16 @@ module.exports.newLineRe = newLineRe;
 // Regular expression for matching common front matter (YAML and TOML)
 module.exports.frontMatterRe =
   // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-  /((^---\s*$[^]*?^---\s*$)|(^\+\+\+\s*$[^]*?^(\+\+\+|\.\.\.)\s*$)|(^\{\s*$[^]*?^\}\s*$))(\r\n|\r|\n|$)/m;
+  /((^---\s*$[\s\S]*?^---\s*$)|(^\+\+\+\s*$[\s\S]*?^(\+\+\+|\.\.\.)\s*$)|(^\{\s*$[\s\S]*?^\}\s*$))(\r\n|\r|\n|$)/m;
 
 // Regular expression for matching the start of inline disable/enable comments
 const inlineCommentStartRe =
   // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-  /(<!--\s*markdownlint-(disable|enable|capture|restore|disable-file|enable-file|disable-line|disable-next-line|configure-file))(?:\s|-->)/ig;
+  /(<!--\s*markdownlint-(disable|enable|capture|restore|disable-file|enable-file|disable-line|disable-next-line|configure-file))(?:\s|-->)/gi;
 module.exports.inlineCommentStartRe = inlineCommentStartRe;
 
 // Regular expression for matching HTML elements
-const htmlElementRe = /<(([A-Za-z][A-Za-z0-9-]*)(?:\s[^`>]*)?)\/?>/g;
+const htmlElementRe = /<(([A-Za-z][A-Za-z\d-]*)(?:\s[^`>]*)?)\/?>/g;
 module.exports.htmlElementRe = htmlElementRe;
 
 // Regular expressions for range matching
@@ -35,10 +35,10 @@ module.exports.blockquotePrefixRe = blockquotePrefixRe;
 
 // Regular expression for reference links (full, collapsed, and shortcut)
 const referenceLinkRe =
-  /!?\\?\[((?:\[[^\]\0]*]|[^[\]\0])*)](?:(?:\[([^\]\0]*)\])|([^(])|$)/g;
+  /!?\\?\[((?:\[[^\]\0]*\]|[^[\]\0])*)\](?:\[([^\]\0]*)\]|([^(])|$)/g;
 
 // Regular expression for link reference definitions
-const linkReferenceDefinitionRe = /^ {0,3}\[([^\]]*[^\\])]:/;
+const linkReferenceDefinitionRe = /^ {0,3}\[([^\]]*[^\\])\]:/;
 module.exports.linkReferenceDefinitionRe = linkReferenceDefinitionRe;
 
 // All punctuation characters (normal and full-width)
diff --git a/lib/md011.js b/lib/md011.js
index 401c7d097..090db726c 100644
--- a/lib/md011.js
+++ b/lib/md011.js
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ const { addError, forEachLine, withinAnyRange } = require("../helpers");
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, lineMetadata } = require("./cache");
 
 const reversedLinkRe =
-  /(^|[^\\])\(([^()]+)\)\[([^\]^][^\]]*)](?!\()/g;
+  /(^|[^\\])\(([^()]+)\)\[([^\]^][^\]]*)\](?!\()/g;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD011", "no-reversed-links" ],
diff --git a/lib/md019.js b/lib/md019.js
index bb5b2b265..b7d343551 100644
--- a/lib/md019.js
+++ b/lib/md019.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = {
     filterTokens(params, "heading_open", (token) => {
       if (headingStyleFor(token) === "atx") {
         const { line, lineNumber } = token;
-        const match = /^(#+)([ \t]{2,})(?:\S)/.exec(line);
+        const match = /^(#+)([ \t]{2,})\S/.exec(line);
         if (match) {
           const [
             ,
diff --git a/lib/md023.js b/lib/md023.js
index c7173c172..ee7ace277 100644
--- a/lib/md023.js
+++ b/lib/md023.js
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 const { addErrorContext, filterTokens } = require("../helpers");
 
-const spaceBeforeHeadingRe = /^((?:\s+)|(?:[>\s]+\s\s))[^>\s]/;
+const spaceBeforeHeadingRe = /^(\s+|[>\s]+\s\s)[^>\s]/;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD023", "heading-start-left", "header-start-left" ],
diff --git a/lib/md026.js b/lib/md026.js
index 0a517d790..6ab1f6457 100644
--- a/lib/md026.js
+++ b/lib/md026.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 const { addError, allPunctuationNoQuestion, escapeForRegExp, forEachHeading } =
   require("../helpers");
 
-const endOfLineHtmlEntityRe = /&#?[0-9a-zA-Z]+;$/;
+const endOfLineHtmlEntityRe = /&#?[\da-zA-Z]+;$/;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD026", "no-trailing-punctuation" ],
diff --git a/lib/md033.js b/lib/md033.js
index 1e427edd7..c3ffd3680 100644
--- a/lib/md033.js
+++ b/lib/md033.js
@@ -8,11 +8,11 @@ const {
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, lineMetadata, referenceLinkImageData } =
   require("./cache");
 
-const linkDestinationRe = /]\(\s*$/;
+const linkDestinationRe = /\]\(\s*$/;
 // See https://spec.commonmark.org/0.29/#autolinks
 const emailAddressRe =
   // eslint-disable-next-line max-len
-  /^[a-zA-Z0-9.!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z0-9](?:[a-zA-Z0-9-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z0-9])?)*$/;
+  /^[\w.!#$%&'*+/=?^`{|}~-]+@[a-zA-Z\d](?:[a-zA-Z\d-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z\d])?(?:\.[a-zA-Z\d](?:[a-zA-Z\d-]{0,61}[a-zA-Z\d])?)*$/;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD033", "no-inline-html" ],
diff --git a/lib/md034.js b/lib/md034.js
index b479642ab..51e9bc247 100644
--- a/lib/md034.js
+++ b/lib/md034.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ const { addErrorContext, filterTokens, funcExpExec, urlFe, withinAnyRange } =
 const { codeBlockAndSpanRanges, htmlElementRanges, referenceLinkImageData } =
   require("./cache");
 
-const htmlLinkRe = /<a(?:|\s[^>]+)>[^<>]*<\/a\s*>/ig;
+const htmlLinkRe = /<a(?:|\s[^>]+)>[^<>]*<\/a\s*>/gi;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD034", "no-bare-urls" ],
diff --git a/lib/md035.js b/lib/md035.js
index e6afb5442..b8dbb5d30 100644
--- a/lib/md035.js
+++ b/lib/md035.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ module.exports = {
     filterTokens(params, "hr", (token) => {
       const { line, lineNumber } = token;
       let { markup } = token;
-      const match = line.match(/[_*\-\s\t]+$/);
+      const match = line.match(/[_*\-\s]+$/);
       if (match) {
         markup = match[0].trim();
       }
diff --git a/lib/md037.js b/lib/md037.js
index cc1f401e4..ec6bb6461 100644
--- a/lib/md037.js
+++ b/lib/md037.js
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@ const { addErrorContext, emphasisMarkersInContent, forEachLine, isBlankLine,
   withinAnyRange } = require("../helpers");
 const { htmlElementRanges, lineMetadata } = require("./cache");
 
-const emphasisRe = /(^|[^\\]|\\\\)(?:(\*\*?\*?)|(__?_?))/g;
-const embeddedUnderscoreRe = /([A-Za-z0-9])_([A-Za-z0-9])/g;
+const emphasisRe = /(^|[^\\]|\\\\)(?:(\*{1,3})|(_{1,3}))/g;
+const embeddedUnderscoreRe = /([A-Za-z\d])_([A-Za-z\d])/g;
 const asteriskListItemMarkerRe = /^([\s>]*)\*(\s+)/;
 const leftSpaceRe = /^\s+/;
 const rightSpaceRe = /\s+$/;
diff --git a/lib/md039.js b/lib/md039.js
index 8362eb26d..1cfe71acd 100644
--- a/lib/md039.js
+++ b/lib/md039.js
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 const { addErrorContext, filterTokens } = require("../helpers");
 
 const spaceInLinkRe =
-  /\[(?:\s+(?:[^\]]*?)\s*|(?:[^\]]*?)\s+)](?=((?:\([^)]*\))|(?:\[[^\]]*\])))/;
+  /\[(?:\s[^\]]*|[^\]]*?\s)\](?=(\([^)]*\)|\[[^\]]*\]))/;
 
 module.exports = {
   "names": [ "MD039", "no-space-in-links" ],
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index b769a1cb9..486467c12 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@
     "eslint-plugin-es": "4.1.0",
     "eslint-plugin-jsdoc": "39.6.4",
     "eslint-plugin-n": "15.6.0",
+    "eslint-plugin-regexp": "1.11.0",
     "eslint-plugin-unicorn": "45.0.2",
     "globby": "13.1.3",
     "js-yaml": "4.1.0",
diff --git a/test/markdownlint-test.js b/test/markdownlint-test.js
index 24a3e4391..93b863b91 100644
--- a/test/markdownlint-test.js
+++ b/test/markdownlint-test.js
@@ -568,7 +568,7 @@ test("customFrontMatter", (t) => new Promise((resolve) => {
     "strings": {
       "content": "<head>\n\t\n</head>\n# Heading\n"
     },
-    "frontMatter": /<head>[^]*<\/head>/,
+    "frontMatter": /<head>[\s\S]*<\/head>/,
     "config": {
       "default": false,
       "MD010": true
diff --git a/test/rules/lint-javascript.js b/test/rules/lint-javascript.js
index c80f15580..10612e761 100644
--- a/test/rules/lint-javascript.js
+++ b/test/rules/lint-javascript.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const languageJavaScript = /js|javascript/i;
 function cleanJsdocRulesFromEslintConfig(config) {
   const cleanedConfig = { ...config };
   for (const rule in config.rules) {
-    if (/^(es|jsdoc|n|unicorn)\//.test(rule)) {
+    if (/^(es|jsdoc|n|regexp|unicorn)\//.test(rule)) {
       delete cleanedConfig.rules[rule];
     }
   }