diff --git a/src/Slugify.php b/src/Slugify.php
index 7d1e22e0..c63246c3 100644
--- a/src/Slugify.php
+++ b/src/Slugify.php
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
  */
 class Slugify implements SlugifyInterface
 {
+    const LOWERCASE_NUMBERS_DASHES = '/([^a-z0-9]|-)+/';
+
     /** @var array */
     protected $rules = array(
         // Numeric characters
@@ -459,6 +461,18 @@ class Slugify implements SlugifyInterface
         )
     );
 
+    /** @var string */
+    protected $regExp;
+
+    /**
+     *
+     * @param string $regExp
+     */
+    public function __construct($regExp = self::LOWERCASE_NUMBERS_DASHES)
+    {
+        $this->regExp = $regExp;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * Returns the slug-version of the string.
      *
@@ -470,7 +484,7 @@ class Slugify implements SlugifyInterface
     public function slugify($string, $separator = '-')
     {
         $string = strtolower(strtr($string, $this->rules));
-        $string = preg_replace('/([^a-z0-9]|-)+/', $separator, $string);
+        $string = preg_replace($this->regExp, $separator, $string);
         $string = strtolower($string);
 
         return trim($string, $separator);
@@ -546,13 +560,27 @@ public function getRulesets()
         return $this->rulesets;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets the regular expression used to sanitize the slug
+     *
+     * @param string $regExp
+     */
+    public function setRegExp($regExp)
+    {
+        $this->regExp = $regExp;
+
+        return $this;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Static method to create new instance of {@see Slugify}.
      *
+     * @param string $regExp The regular expression to be applied to strings when calling slugify
+     *
      * @return Slugify
      */
-    public static function create()
+    public static function create($regExp = self::LOWERCASE_NUMBERS_DASHES)
     {
-        return new static();
+        return new static($regExp);
     }
 }
diff --git a/tests/SlugifyTest.php b/tests/SlugifyTest.php
index 6659c85b..31933f89 100644
--- a/tests/SlugifyTest.php
+++ b/tests/SlugifyTest.php
@@ -110,6 +110,33 @@ public function createReturnsAnInstance()
         $this->assertInstanceOf('Cocur\\Slugify\\SlugifyInterface', Slugify::create());
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @test
+     * @covers Cocur\Slugify\Slugify::setRegExp()
+     */
+    public function otherRegExpsProduceOtherResults()
+    {
+        $actual = 'File Name.tar.gz';
+        $expected = 'file-name.tar.gz';
+
+        $this->assertNotEquals($expected, $this->slugify->slugify($actual));
+        $this->slugify->setRegExp('/([^a-z0-9.]|-)+/');
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->slugify->slugify($actual));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @test
+     * @covers Cocur\Slugify\Slugify::__construct()
+     */
+    public function constructWithOtherRegexp()
+    {
+        $actual = 'File Name.tar.gz';
+        $expected = 'file-name.tar.gz';
+
+        $this->slugify = new Slugify('/([^a-z0-9.]|-)+/');
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->slugify->slugify($actual));
+    }
+
     public function provider()
     {
         return array(