diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/core/Configuration.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/core/Configuration.java
index 1d55383c5..17f7e77cd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/core/Configuration.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/core/Configuration.java
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ public final class Configuration {
      * Automatically populated by Gradle/Maven during build.
      * DO NOT EDIT MANUALLY - this value is replaced at build time.
      */
-    public static final String gitCommitId = "6c981ee03";
+    public static final String gitCommitId = "016a235c7";
 
     /**
      * Git commit date of the build (ISO format: YYYY-MM-DD).
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public final class Configuration {
      * Parsed by App::perlbrew and other tools via: perl -V | grep "Compiled at"
      * DO NOT EDIT MANUALLY - this value is replaced at build time.
      */
-    public static final String buildTimestamp = "Apr 25 2026 09:42:01";
+    public static final String buildTimestamp = "Apr 25 2026 10:11:42";
 
     // Prevent instantiation
     private Configuration() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessor.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessor.java
index eaf15a371..db5582c46 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessor.java
@@ -1379,6 +1379,11 @@ private static int handleCharacterClass(String s, boolean flag_xx, StringBuilder
             char ch = s.charAt(bracketEnd);
             if (inEscape) {
                 inEscape = false;
+                // \cX consumes the next character (control-character escape),
+                // even if that character is ']' or '\' (e.g., \c], \c\).
+                if (ch == 'c' && bracketEnd + 1 < length) {
+                    bracketEnd++; // skip the control-char target
+                }
             } else if (ch == '\\') {
                 inEscape = true;
             } else if (ch == '[') {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
index 6e5d9b676..e3d601b59 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/perlonjava/runtime/regex/RegexPreprocessorHelper.java
@@ -848,6 +848,26 @@ static int handleRegexCharacterClassEscape(int offset, String s, StringBuilder s
                         lastChar = 0x08;  // Backspace character for range validation
                         first = false;
                         afterCaret = false;
+                    } else if (s.codePointAt(offset) == 'c' && offset + 1 < length) {
+                        // \cX control-character escape: consume the next character
+                        // and convert to a hex escape so Java doesn't mis-parse
+                        // sequences like \c\, \c[, \c] (where the next char is
+                        // special inside a character class).
+                        // Perl semantics: ord(uc(X)) XOR 0x40, low 8 bits.
+                        int ctrl = s.codePointAt(offset + 1);
+                        if (ctrl >= 'a' && ctrl <= 'z') {
+                            ctrl = ctrl - 'a' + 'A'; // upper-case ASCII letter
+                        }
+                        int value = (ctrl ^ 0x40) & 0xFF;
+                        // Remove the backslash that was already appended
+                        sb.setLength(sb.length() - 1);
+                        sb.append(String.format("\\x{%X}", value));
+                        offset++; // skip past the control-char target (outer loop bumps past it)
+                        lastChar = value;
+                        first = false;
+                        afterCaret = false;
+                        wasEscape = true;
+                        break;
                     } else {
                         int c2 = s.codePointAt(offset);
                         if (c2 >= '0' && c2 <= '7') {