diff --git a/lib/Regexp/Parser/Handlers.pm b/lib/Regexp/Parser/Handlers.pm
index e700f73..0380672 100644
--- a/lib/Regexp/Parser/Handlers.pm
+++ b/lib/Regexp/Parser/Handlers.pm
@@ -637,6 +637,10 @@ sub init {
         if ($S->can($posix)) { $$ret = $S->$posix($neg, $how) }
         else { $S->error($S->RPe_BADPOS, "$how$neg$name$how") }
       }
+      elsif (&Rf & 0x200 and ${&Rx} =~ m{ \G [ \t]+ }xgc) {
+        # /xx: skip unescaped spaces and tabs inside character classes (Perl 5.26+)
+        redo;
+      }
       elsif (${&Rx} =~ m{ \G (.) }xgcs) {
         $$ret = $S->force_object(anyof_char => $1);
       }
diff --git a/t/08regex_flags.t b/t/08regex_flags.t
index ee9c779..523343e 100644
--- a/t/08regex_flags.t
+++ b/t/08regex_flags.t
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-use Test::More tests => 18;
+use Test::More tests => 30;
 use Regexp::Parser;
 ok(1);
 
@@ -46,6 +46,30 @@ $w = $r->walker;
 ($n) = $w->();
 is( $n->type, 'mbol', '/m makes ^ match \\n boundaries' );
 
+# Test 8: /xx flag strips spaces and tabs inside character classes (Perl 5.26+)
+ok( $r->regex('[a b c]', 'xx') );
+is( $r->visual, '[abc]', 'xx flag strips spaces in char class' );
+
+# Test 9: /xx flag does not strip newlines inside character classes
+ok( $r->regex("[a\nb]", 'xx') );
+is( $r->visual, "[a\nb]", 'xx flag preserves newlines in char class' );
+
+# Test 10: /xx flag strips tabs inside character classes
+ok( $r->regex("[a\tb]", 'xx') );
+is( $r->visual, '[ab]', 'xx flag strips tabs in char class' );
+
+# Test 11: /x flag does NOT strip spaces inside character classes
+ok( $r->regex('[a b]', 'x') );
+is( $r->visual, '[a b]', 'x flag preserves spaces in char class' );
+
+# Test 12: inline (?xx:) strips spaces inside character classes
+ok( $r->regex('(?xx:[a b c])') );
+is( $r->visual, '(?xx:[abc])', 'inline (?xx:) strips spaces in char class' );
+
+# Test 13: /xx escaping -- backslash-space is kept
+ok( $r->regex('[a\\ b]', 'xx') );
+is( $r->visual, '[a\ b]', 'xx flag preserves escaped space in char class' );
+
 __DATA__
 0	exact	exactf	abc
 ---