diff --git a/Lib/re.py b/Lib/re.py
--- a/Lib/re.py
+++ b/Lib/re.py
@@ -112,50 +112,59 @@ Some of the functions in this module tak
                    as the end of the string.
     S  DOTALL      "." matches any character at all, including the newline.
     X  VERBOSE     Ignore whitespace and comments for nicer looking RE's.
     U  UNICODE     For compatibility only. Ignored for string patterns (it
                    is the default), and forbidden for bytes patterns.
 
 This module also defines an exception 'error'.
 
 """
 
+import enum
 import sre_compile
 import sre_parse
 try:
     import _locale
 except ImportError:
     _locale = None
 
 # public symbols
 __all__ = [
     "match", "fullmatch", "search", "sub", "subn", "split",
     "findall", "finditer", "compile", "purge", "template", "escape",
     "error", "A", "I", "L", "M", "S", "X", "U",
     "ASCII", "IGNORECASE", "LOCALE", "MULTILINE", "DOTALL", "VERBOSE",
     "UNICODE",
 ]
 
 __version__ = "2.2.1"
 
-# flags
-A = ASCII = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_ASCII # assume ascii "locale"
-I = IGNORECASE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_IGNORECASE # ignore case
-L = LOCALE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_LOCALE # assume current 8-bit locale
-U = UNICODE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_UNICODE # assume unicode "locale"
-M = MULTILINE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_MULTILINE # make anchors look for newline
-S = DOTALL = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_DOTALL # make dot match newline
-X = VERBOSE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_VERBOSE # ignore whitespace and comments
-
-# sre extensions (experimental, don't rely on these)
-T = TEMPLATE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_TEMPLATE # disable backtracking
-DEBUG = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_DEBUG # dump pattern after compilation
+class Flag(enum.IntFlag):
+    ASCII = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_ASCII # assume ascii "locale"
+    IGNORECASE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_IGNORECASE # ignore case
+    LOCALE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_LOCALE # assume current 8-bit locale
+    UNICODE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_UNICODE # assume unicode "locale"
+    MULTILINE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_MULTILINE # make anchors look for newline
+    DOTALL = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_DOTALL # make dot match newline
+    VERBOSE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_VERBOSE # ignore whitespace and comments
+    A = ASCII
+    I = IGNORECASE
+    L = LOCALE
+    U = UNICODE
+    M = MULTILINE
+    S = DOTALL
+    X = VERBOSE
+    # sre extensions (experimental, don't rely on these)
+    TEMPLATE = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_TEMPLATE # disable backtracking
+    T = TEMPLATE
+    DEBUG = sre_compile.SRE_FLAG_DEBUG # dump pattern after compilation
+globals().update(Flag.__members__)
 
 # sre exception
 error = sre_compile.error
 
 # --------------------------------------------------------------------
 # public interface
 
 def match(pattern, string, flags=0):
     """Try to apply the pattern at the start of the string, returning
     a match object, or None if no match was found."""