Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Kleene star
     
         (Or "Kleene closure", named after {Stephen Kleene}) The
        {postfix} "*" operator used in {regular expressions},
        {Extended Backus-Naur Form}, and similar formalisms to specify
        a match for zero or more occurrences of the preceding
        expression.  For example, the regular expression "be*t" would
        match the string "bt", "bet", "beet", "beeeeet", and so on.
     
        (2000-07-26)