diff --git a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegexParser.scala b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegexParser.scala
index 45d5e07dd73..0f5ada9f7fa 100644
--- a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegexParser.scala
+++ b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegexParser.scala
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ package com.nvidia.spark.rapids
 
 import java.sql.SQLException
 
-import scala.collection
 import scala.collection.mutable.ListBuffer
 
 import com.nvidia.spark.rapids.GpuOverrides.regexMetaChars
@@ -73,7 +72,7 @@ class RegexParser(pattern: String) {
     sequence
   }
 
-  def parseReplacementBase(): RegexAST = {
+  private def parseReplacementBase(): RegexAST = {
       consume() match {
         case '\\' =>
           parseBackrefOrEscaped()
@@ -782,6 +781,7 @@ class CudfRegexTranspiler(mode: RegexMode) {
     }
   }
 
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
   private def isRepetition(e: RegexAST, checkZeroLength: Boolean): Boolean = {
     e match {
       case RegexRepetition(_, _) if !checkZeroLength => true
@@ -1648,6 +1648,7 @@ class CudfRegexTranspiler(mode: RegexMode) {
     }
   }
 
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
   private def isEntirely(regex: RegexAST, f: RegexAST => Boolean): Boolean = {
     regex match {
       case RegexSequence(parts) if parts.nonEmpty =>
@@ -1672,6 +1673,7 @@ class CudfRegexTranspiler(mode: RegexMode) {
     })
   }
 
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
   private def beginsWith(regex: RegexAST, f: RegexAST => Boolean): Boolean = {
     regex match {
       case RegexSequence(parts) if parts.nonEmpty =>
@@ -1687,6 +1689,7 @@ class CudfRegexTranspiler(mode: RegexMode) {
 
   }
 
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
   private def endsWith(regex: RegexAST, f: RegexAST => Boolean): Boolean = {
     regex match {
       case RegexSequence(parts) if parts.nonEmpty =>
@@ -1760,7 +1763,7 @@ sealed case class RegexSequence(parts: ListBuffer[RegexAST]) extends RegexAST {
 }
 
 sealed case class RegexGroup(capture: Boolean, term: RegexAST,
-    val lookahead: Option[RegexLookahead])
+    lookahead: Option[RegexLookahead])
     extends RegexAST {
   def this(capture: Boolean, term: RegexAST) = {
     this(capture, term, None)
@@ -2028,6 +2031,7 @@ object RegexOptimizationType {
 
 object RegexRewrite {
 
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
   private def removeBrackets(astLs: collection.Seq[RegexAST]): collection.Seq[RegexAST] = {
     astLs match {
       case collection.Seq(RegexGroup(_, term, None)) => removeBrackets(term.children())
@@ -2044,7 +2048,7 @@ object RegexRewrite {
    */
   private def getPrefixRangePattern(astLs: collection.Seq[RegexAST]): 
       Option[(String, Int, Int, Int)] = {
-    val haveLiteralPrefix = isliteralString(astLs.dropRight(1))
+    val haveLiteralPrefix = isLiteralString(astLs.dropRight(1))
     val endsWithRange = astLs.lastOption match {
       case Some(RegexRepetition(
           RegexCharacterClass(false, ListBuffer(RegexCharacterRange(a,b))), 
@@ -2080,9 +2084,9 @@ object RegexRewrite {
     }
   }
 
-  private def isliteralString(astLs: collection.Seq[RegexAST]): Boolean = {
+  private def isLiteralString(astLs: collection.Seq[RegexAST]): Boolean = {
     removeBrackets(astLs).forall {
-      case RegexChar(ch) if !regexMetaChars.contains(ch) => true
+      case RegexChar(ch) => !regexMetaChars.contains(ch)
       case _ => false
     }
   }
@@ -2120,16 +2124,26 @@ object RegexRewrite {
    * Matches the given regex ast to a regex optimization type for regex rewrite
    * optimization.
    *
-   * @param ast The Abstract Syntax Tree parsed from a regex pattern.
+   * @param ast unparsed children of the Abstract Syntax Tree parsed from a regex pattern.
    * @return The `RegexOptimizationType` for the given pattern.
    */
-  def matchSimplePattern(ast: RegexAST): RegexOptimizationType = {
-    ast.children() match {
-      case (RegexChar('^') | RegexEscaped('A')) :: ast 
-          if isliteralString(stripTailingWildcards(ast)) => {
-        // ^literal.* => startsWith literal
-        RegexOptimizationType.StartsWith(RegexCharsToString(stripTailingWildcards(ast)))
-      }
+  @scala.annotation.tailrec
+  def matchSimplePattern(ast: Seq[RegexAST]): RegexOptimizationType = {
+    ast match {
+      case (RegexChar('^') | RegexEscaped('A')) :: astTail =>
+        val noTrailingWildCards = stripTailingWildcards(astTail)
+        if (isLiteralString(noTrailingWildCards)) {
+          // ^literal.* => startsWith literal
+          RegexOptimizationType.StartsWith(RegexCharsToString(noTrailingWildCards))
+        } else {
+          val noWildCards = stripLeadingWildcards(noTrailingWildCards)
+          if (noWildCards.length == noTrailingWildCards.length) {
+            // TODO startsWith with PrefIxRange
+            RegexOptimizationType.NoOptimization
+          } else {
+            matchSimplePattern(astTail)
+          }
+        }
       case astLs => {
         val noStartsWithAst = stripTailingWildcards(stripLeadingWildcards(astLs))
         val prefixRangeInfo = getPrefixRangePattern(noStartsWithAst)
@@ -2137,7 +2151,7 @@ object RegexRewrite {
           val (prefix, length, start, end) = prefixRangeInfo.get
           // (literal[a-b]{x,y}) => prefix range pattern
           RegexOptimizationType.PrefixRange(prefix, length, start, end)
-        } else if (isliteralString(noStartsWithAst)) {
+        } else if (isLiteralString(noStartsWithAst)) {
           // literal.* or (literal).* => contains literal
           RegexOptimizationType.Contains(RegexCharsToString(noStartsWithAst))
         } else {
diff --git a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/stringFunctions.scala b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/stringFunctions.scala
index b875c84edbf..8fea4014149 100644
--- a/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/stringFunctions.scala
+++ b/sql-plugin/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/stringFunctions.scala
@@ -1073,7 +1073,7 @@ class GpuRLikeMeta(
             val originalPattern = str.toString
             val regexAst = new RegexParser(originalPattern).parse()
             if (conf.isRlikeRegexRewriteEnabled) {
-              rewriteOptimizationType = RegexRewrite.matchSimplePattern(regexAst)
+              rewriteOptimizationType = RegexRewrite.matchSimplePattern(regexAst.children())
             }
             val (transpiledAST, _) = new CudfRegexTranspiler(RegexFindMode)
                 .getTranspiledAST(regexAst, None, None)
diff --git a/tests/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegularExpressionRewriteSuite.scala b/tests/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegularExpressionRewriteSuite.scala
index a9ef6364aac..a140f4123f4 100644
--- a/tests/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegularExpressionRewriteSuite.scala
+++ b/tests/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/RegularExpressionRewriteSuite.scala
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ class RegularExpressionRewriteSuite extends AnyFunSuite {
       Unit = {
     val results = patterns.map { pattern =>
       val ast = new RegexParser(pattern).parse()
-      RegexRewrite.matchSimplePattern(ast)
+      RegexRewrite.matchSimplePattern(ast.children())
     }
     assert(results == excepted)
   }
@@ -53,12 +53,23 @@ class RegularExpressionRewriteSuite extends AnyFunSuite {
       "(.*)abc[0-9a-z]{1,3}(.*)",
       "(.*)abc[0-9]{2}.*",
       "^abc[0-9]{1,3}",
-      "火花急流[\u4e00-\u9fa5]{1}")
-    val excepted = Seq(PrefixRange("abc", 1, 48, 57),
-      NoOptimization,
-      PrefixRange("abc", 2, 48, 57),
+      "火花急流[\u4e00-\u9fa5]{1}",
+      "^[0-9]{6}",
+      "^[0-9]{3,10}",
+      "^.*[0-9]{6}",
+      "^(.*)[0-9]{3,10}"
+    )
+    val excepted = Seq(
       PrefixRange("abc", 1, 48, 57),
-      PrefixRange("火花急流", 1, 19968, 40869))
+      NoOptimization, // prefix followed by a multi-range not supported
+      PrefixRange("abc", 2, 48, 57),
+      NoOptimization, // starts with PrefixRange not supported
+      PrefixRange("火花急流", 1, 19968, 40869),
+      NoOptimization, // starts with PrefixRange not supported
+      NoOptimization, // starts with PrefixRange not supported
+      PrefixRange("", 6, 48, 57),
+      PrefixRange("", 3, 48, 57)
+    )
     verifyRewritePattern(patterns, excepted)
   }
 }