The regular expression in "input pattern" is checked against the optional input passed as an argument to "phrase" (see Input Patterns and Registers, below). If that expression matches, the phrase macro will execute the actions contained in the "match" section, else if the input pattern is not matched, the phrase macro will execute the actions contained in the "nomatch" section. An input pattern of ".*" will match whatever input, and even no input at all (in most cases, in fact, you do not pass any input to phrases).