diff options
| author | ph10 <ph10@2f5784b3-3f2a-0410-8824-cb99058d5e15> | 2011-08-02 11:00:40 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | ph10 <ph10@2f5784b3-3f2a-0410-8824-cb99058d5e15> | 2011-08-02 11:00:40 +0000 |
| commit | 9c65843dde6af3b331acdf8518a6020df32f45af (patch) | |
| tree | f4938ee9a3d4ca4b7282f86370a5a39875a3a562 /doc/pcre.txt | |
| parent | 2c1db477501a36945e05bc50a1d563c96c4e13f4 (diff) | |
| download | pcre-9c65843dde6af3b331acdf8518a6020df32f45af.tar.gz | |
Documentation and general text tidies in preparation for test release.
git-svn-id: svn://vcs.exim.org/pcre/code/trunk@654 2f5784b3-3f2a-0410-8824-cb99058d5e15
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/pcre.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/pcre.txt | 1226 |
1 files changed, 697 insertions, 529 deletions
diff --git a/doc/pcre.txt b/doc/pcre.txt index ac4254e..cb9bd0e 100644 --- a/doc/pcre.txt +++ b/doc/pcre.txt @@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ INTRODUCTION 5.12, including support for UTF-8 encoded strings and Unicode general category properties. However, UTF-8 and Unicode support has to be explicitly enabled; it is not the default. The Unicode tables corre- - spond to Unicode release 5.2.0. + spond to Unicode release 6.0.0. In addition to the Perl-compatible matching function, PCRE contains an alternative function that matches the same compiled patterns in a dif- @@ -181,13 +181,19 @@ UTF-8 AND UNICODE PROPERTY SUPPORT points in the UTF-8 encoding. (In other words, the whole surrogate thing is a fudge for UTF-16 which unfortunately messes up UTF-8.) - If an invalid UTF-8 string is passed to PCRE, an error return - (PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8) is given. In some situations, you may already know - that your strings are valid, and therefore want to skip these checks in - order to improve performance. If you set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK flag at - compile time or at run time, PCRE assumes that the pattern or subject - it is given (respectively) contains only valid UTF-8 codes. In this - case, it does not diagnose an invalid UTF-8 string. + If an invalid UTF-8 string is passed to PCRE, an error return is given. + At compile time, the only additional information is the offset to the + first byte of the failing character. The runtime functions (pcre_exec() + and pcre_dfa_exec()), pass back this information as well as a more + detailed reason code if the caller has provided memory in which to do + this. + + In some situations, you may already know that your strings are valid, + and therefore want to skip these checks in order to improve perfor- + mance. If you set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK flag at compile time or at run + time, PCRE assumes that the pattern or subject it is given (respec- + tively) contains only valid UTF-8 codes. In this case, it does not + diagnose an invalid UTF-8 string. If you pass an invalid UTF-8 string when PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK is set, what happens depends on why the string is invalid. If the string con- @@ -266,8 +272,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 13 November 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 07 May 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -307,6 +313,18 @@ PCRE BUILD-TIME OPTIONS is not described. +BUILDING SHARED AND STATIC LIBRARIES + + The PCRE building process uses libtool to build both shared and static + Unix libraries by default. You can suppress one of these by adding one + of + + --disable-shared + --disable-static + + to the configure command, as required. + + C++ SUPPORT By default, the configure script will search for a C++ compiler and C++ @@ -400,18 +418,6 @@ WHAT \R MATCHES functions are called. -BUILDING SHARED AND STATIC LIBRARIES - - The PCRE building process uses libtool to build both shared and static - Unix libraries by default. You can suppress one of these by adding one - of - - --disable-shared - --disable-static - - to the configure command, as required. - - POSIX MALLOC USAGE When PCRE is called through the POSIX interface (see the pcreposix doc- @@ -552,30 +558,46 @@ PCREGREP OPTIONS FOR COMPRESSED FILE SUPPORT if they are not. +PCREGREP BUFFER SIZE + + pcregrep uses an internal buffer to hold a "window" on the file it is + scanning, in order to be able to output "before" and "after" lines when + it finds a match. The size of the buffer is controlled by a parameter + whose default value is 20K. The buffer itself is three times this size, + but because of the way it is used for holding "before" lines, the long- + est line that is guaranteed to be processable is the parameter size. + You can change the default parameter value by adding, for example, + + --with-pcregrep-bufsize=50K + + to the configure command. The caller of pcregrep can, however, override + this value by specifying a run-time option. + + PCRETEST OPTION FOR LIBREADLINE SUPPORT If you add --enable-pcretest-libreadline - to the configure command, pcretest is linked with the libreadline - library, and when its input is from a terminal, it reads it using the + to the configure command, pcretest is linked with the libreadline + library, and when its input is from a terminal, it reads it using the readline() function. This provides line-editing and history facilities. Note that libreadline is GPL-licensed, so if you distribute a binary of pcretest linked in this way, there may be licensing issues. - Setting this option causes the -lreadline option to be added to the - pcretest build. In many operating environments with a sytem-installed + Setting this option causes the -lreadline option to be added to the + pcretest build. In many operating environments with a sytem-installed libreadline this is sufficient. However, in some environments (e.g. if - an unmodified distribution version of readline is in use), some extra - configuration may be necessary. The INSTALL file for libreadline says + an unmodified distribution version of readline is in use), some extra + configuration may be necessary. The INSTALL file for libreadline says this: "Readline uses the termcap functions, but does not link with the termcap or curses library itself, allowing applications which link with readline the to choose an appropriate library." - If your environment has not been set up so that an appropriate library + If your environment has not been set up so that an appropriate library is automatically included, you may need to add something like LIBS="-ncurses" @@ -597,8 +619,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 29 September 2009 - Copyright (c) 1997-2009 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 02 August 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -1173,31 +1195,32 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN if compilation of a pattern fails, pcre_compile() returns NULL, and sets the variable pointed to by errptr to point to a textual error mes- sage. This is a static string that is part of the library. You must not - try to free it. The offset from the start of the pattern to the byte - that was being processed when the error was discovered is placed in the - variable pointed to by erroffset, which must not be NULL. If it is, an - immediate error is given. Some errors are not detected until checks are - carried out when the whole pattern has been scanned; in this case the - offset is set to the end of the pattern. + try to free it. Normally, the offset from the start of the pattern to + the byte that was being processed when the error was discovered is + placed in the variable pointed to by erroffset, which must not be NULL + (if it is, an immediate error is given). However, for an invalid UTF-8 + string, the offset is that of the first byte of the failing character. + Also, some errors are not detected until checks are carried out when + the whole pattern has been scanned; in these cases the offset passed + back is the length of the pattern. Note that the offset is in bytes, not characters, even in UTF-8 mode. - It may point into the middle of a UTF-8 character (for example, when - PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 is returned for an invalid UTF-8 string). + It may sometimes point into the middle of a UTF-8 character. - If pcre_compile2() is used instead of pcre_compile(), and the error- - codeptr argument is not NULL, a non-zero error code number is returned - via this argument in the event of an error. This is in addition to the + If pcre_compile2() is used instead of pcre_compile(), and the error- + codeptr argument is not NULL, a non-zero error code number is returned + via this argument in the event of an error. This is in addition to the textual error message. Error codes and messages are listed below. - If the final argument, tableptr, is NULL, PCRE uses a default set of - character tables that are built when PCRE is compiled, using the - default C locale. Otherwise, tableptr must be an address that is the - result of a call to pcre_maketables(). This value is stored with the - compiled pattern, and used again by pcre_exec(), unless another table + If the final argument, tableptr, is NULL, PCRE uses a default set of + character tables that are built when PCRE is compiled, using the + default C locale. Otherwise, tableptr must be an address that is the + result of a call to pcre_maketables(). This value is stored with the + compiled pattern, and used again by pcre_exec(), unless another table pointer is passed to it. For more discussion, see the section on locale support below. - This code fragment shows a typical straightforward call to pcre_com- + This code fragment shows a typical straightforward call to pcre_com- pile(): pcre *re; @@ -1210,147 +1233,147 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN &erroffset, /* for error offset */ NULL); /* use default character tables */ - The following names for option bits are defined in the pcre.h header + The following names for option bits are defined in the pcre.h header file: PCRE_ANCHORED If this bit is set, the pattern is forced to be "anchored", that is, it - is constrained to match only at the first matching point in the string - that is being searched (the "subject string"). This effect can also be - achieved by appropriate constructs in the pattern itself, which is the + is constrained to match only at the first matching point in the string + that is being searched (the "subject string"). This effect can also be + achieved by appropriate constructs in the pattern itself, which is the only way to do it in Perl. PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT If this bit is set, pcre_compile() automatically inserts callout items, - all with number 255, before each pattern item. For discussion of the + all with number 255, before each pattern item. For discussion of the callout facility, see the pcrecallout documentation. PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF PCRE_BSR_UNICODE These options (which are mutually exclusive) control what the \R escape - sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, + sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, or to match any Unicode newline sequence. The default is specified when PCRE is built. It can be overridden from within the pattern, or by set- ting an option when a compiled pattern is matched. PCRE_CASELESS - If this bit is set, letters in the pattern match both upper and lower - case letters. It is equivalent to Perl's /i option, and it can be - changed within a pattern by a (?i) option setting. In UTF-8 mode, PCRE - always understands the concept of case for characters whose values are - less than 128, so caseless matching is always possible. For characters - with higher values, the concept of case is supported if PCRE is com- - piled with Unicode property support, but not otherwise. If you want to - use caseless matching for characters 128 and above, you must ensure - that PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support as well as with + If this bit is set, letters in the pattern match both upper and lower + case letters. It is equivalent to Perl's /i option, and it can be + changed within a pattern by a (?i) option setting. In UTF-8 mode, PCRE + always understands the concept of case for characters whose values are + less than 128, so caseless matching is always possible. For characters + with higher values, the concept of case is supported if PCRE is com- + piled with Unicode property support, but not otherwise. If you want to + use caseless matching for characters 128 and above, you must ensure + that PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support as well as with UTF-8 support. PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY - If this bit is set, a dollar metacharacter in the pattern matches only - at the end of the subject string. Without this option, a dollar also - matches immediately before a newline at the end of the string (but not - before any other newlines). The PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY option is ignored - if PCRE_MULTILINE is set. There is no equivalent to this option in + If this bit is set, a dollar metacharacter in the pattern matches only + at the end of the subject string. Without this option, a dollar also + matches immediately before a newline at the end of the string (but not + before any other newlines). The PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY option is ignored + if PCRE_MULTILINE is set. There is no equivalent to this option in Perl, and no way to set it within a pattern. PCRE_DOTALL - If this bit is set, a dot metacharacter in the pattern matches a char- + If this bit is set, a dot metacharacter in the pattern matches a char- acter of any value, including one that indicates a newline. However, it - only ever matches one character, even if newlines are coded as CRLF. - Without this option, a dot does not match when the current position is + only ever matches one character, even if newlines are coded as CRLF. + Without this option, a dot does not match when the current position is at a newline. This option is equivalent to Perl's /s option, and it can - be changed within a pattern by a (?s) option setting. A negative class + be changed within a pattern by a (?s) option setting. A negative class such as [^a] always matches newline characters, independent of the set- ting of this option. PCRE_DUPNAMES - If this bit is set, names used to identify capturing subpatterns need + If this bit is set, names used to identify capturing subpatterns need not be unique. This can be helpful for certain types of pattern when it - is known that only one instance of the named subpattern can ever be - matched. There are more details of named subpatterns below; see also + is known that only one instance of the named subpattern can ever be + matched. There are more details of named subpatterns below; see also the pcrepattern documentation. PCRE_EXTENDED - If this bit is set, whitespace data characters in the pattern are + If this bit is set, whitespace data characters in the pattern are totally ignored except when escaped or inside a character class. White- space does not include the VT character (code 11). In addition, charac- ters between an unescaped # outside a character class and the next new- - line, inclusive, are also ignored. This is equivalent to Perl's /x - option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a (?x) option set- + line, inclusive, are also ignored. This is equivalent to Perl's /x + option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a (?x) option set- ting. - Which characters are interpreted as newlines is controlled by the - options passed to pcre_compile() or by a special sequence at the start - of the pattern, as described in the section entitled "Newline conven- + Which characters are interpreted as newlines is controlled by the + options passed to pcre_compile() or by a special sequence at the start + of the pattern, as described in the section entitled "Newline conven- tions" in the pcrepattern documentation. Note that the end of this type - of comment is a literal newline sequence in the pattern; escape + of comment is a literal newline sequence in the pattern; escape sequences that happen to represent a newline do not count. - This option makes it possible to include comments inside complicated - patterns. Note, however, that this applies only to data characters. - Whitespace characters may never appear within special character + This option makes it possible to include comments inside complicated + patterns. Note, however, that this applies only to data characters. + Whitespace characters may never appear within special character sequences in a pattern, for example within the sequence (?( that intro- duces a conditional subpattern. PCRE_EXTRA - This option was invented in order to turn on additional functionality - of PCRE that is incompatible with Perl, but it is currently of very - little use. When set, any backslash in a pattern that is followed by a - letter that has no special meaning causes an error, thus reserving - these combinations for future expansion. By default, as in Perl, a - backslash followed by a letter with no special meaning is treated as a + This option was invented in order to turn on additional functionality + of PCRE that is incompatible with Perl, but it is currently of very + little use. When set, any backslash in a pattern that is followed by a + letter that has no special meaning causes an error, thus reserving + these combinations for future expansion. By default, as in Perl, a + backslash followed by a letter with no special meaning is treated as a literal. (Perl can, however, be persuaded to give an error for this, by - running it with the -w option.) There are at present no other features - controlled by this option. It can also be set by a (?X) option setting + running it with the -w option.) There are at present no other features + controlled by this option. It can also be set by a (?X) option setting within a pattern. PCRE_FIRSTLINE - If this option is set, an unanchored pattern is required to match - before or at the first newline in the subject string, though the + If this option is set, an unanchored pattern is required to match + before or at the first newline in the subject string, though the matched text may continue over the newline. PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT If this option is set, PCRE's behaviour is changed in some ways so that - it is compatible with JavaScript rather than Perl. The changes are as + it is compatible with JavaScript rather than Perl. The changes are as follows: - (1) A lone closing square bracket in a pattern causes a compile-time - error, because this is illegal in JavaScript (by default it is treated + (1) A lone closing square bracket in a pattern causes a compile-time + error, because this is illegal in JavaScript (by default it is treated as a data character). Thus, the pattern AB]CD becomes illegal when this option is set. - (2) At run time, a back reference to an unset subpattern group matches - an empty string (by default this causes the current matching alterna- - tive to fail). A pattern such as (\1)(a) succeeds when this option is - set (assuming it can find an "a" in the subject), whereas it fails by + (2) At run time, a back reference to an unset subpattern group matches + an empty string (by default this causes the current matching alterna- + tive to fail). A pattern such as (\1)(a) succeeds when this option is + set (assuming it can find an "a" in the subject), whereas it fails by default, for Perl compatibility. PCRE_MULTILINE - By default, PCRE treats the subject string as consisting of a single - line of characters (even if it actually contains newlines). The "start - of line" metacharacter (^) matches only at the start of the string, - while the "end of line" metacharacter ($) matches only at the end of + By default, PCRE treats the subject string as consisting of a single + line of characters (even if it actually contains newlines). The "start + of line" metacharacter (^) matches only at the start of the string, + while the "end of line" metacharacter ($) matches only at the end of the string, or before a terminating newline (unless PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set). This is the same as Perl. - When PCRE_MULTILINE it is set, the "start of line" and "end of line" - constructs match immediately following or immediately before internal - newlines in the subject string, respectively, as well as at the very - start and end. This is equivalent to Perl's /m option, and it can be + When PCRE_MULTILINE it is set, the "start of line" and "end of line" + constructs match immediately following or immediately before internal + newlines in the subject string, respectively, as well as at the very + start and end. This is equivalent to Perl's /m option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a (?m) option setting. If there are no new- - lines in a subject string, or no occurrences of ^ or $ in a pattern, + lines in a subject string, or no occurrences of ^ or $ in a pattern, setting PCRE_MULTILINE has no effect. PCRE_NEWLINE_CR @@ -1359,32 +1382,32 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY - These options override the default newline definition that was chosen - when PCRE was built. Setting the first or the second specifies that a - newline is indicated by a single character (CR or LF, respectively). - Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF specifies that a newline is indicated by the - two-character CRLF sequence. Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF specifies + These options override the default newline definition that was chosen + when PCRE was built. Setting the first or the second specifies that a + newline is indicated by a single character (CR or LF, respectively). + Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF specifies that a newline is indicated by the + two-character CRLF sequence. Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF specifies that any of the three preceding sequences should be recognized. Setting - PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY specifies that any Unicode newline sequence should be + PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY specifies that any Unicode newline sequence should be recognized. The Unicode newline sequences are the three just mentioned, - plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (formfeed, - U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS - (paragraph separator, U+2029). The last two are recognized only in + plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (formfeed, + U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS + (paragraph separator, U+2029). The last two are recognized only in UTF-8 mode. - The newline setting in the options word uses three bits that are + The newline setting in the options word uses three bits that are treated as a number, giving eight possibilities. Currently only six are - used (default plus the five values above). This means that if you set - more than one newline option, the combination may or may not be sensi- + used (default plus the five values above). This means that if you set + more than one newline option, the combination may or may not be sensi- ble. For example, PCRE_NEWLINE_CR with PCRE_NEWLINE_LF is equivalent to - PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, but other combinations may yield unused numbers and + PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, but other combinations may yield unused numbers and cause an error. - The only time that a line break in a pattern is specially recognized - when compiling is when PCRE_EXTENDED is set. CR and LF are whitespace - characters, and so are ignored in this mode. Also, an unescaped # out- - side a character class indicates a comment that lasts until after the - next line break sequence. In other circumstances, line break sequences + The only time that a line break in a pattern is specially recognized + when compiling is when PCRE_EXTENDED is set. CR and LF are whitespace + characters, and so are ignored in this mode. Also, an unescaped # out- + side a character class indicates a comment that lasts until after the + next line break sequence. In other circumstances, line break sequences in patterns are treated as literal data. The newline option that is set at compile time becomes the default that @@ -1393,65 +1416,65 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE If this option is set, it disables the use of numbered capturing paren- - theses in the pattern. Any opening parenthesis that is not followed by - ? behaves as if it were followed by ?: but named parentheses can still - be used for capturing (and they acquire numbers in the usual way). + theses in the pattern. Any opening parenthesis that is not followed by + ? behaves as if it were followed by ?: but named parentheses can still + be used for capturing (and they acquire numbers in the usual way). There is no equivalent of this option in Perl. NO_START_OPTIMIZE - This is an option that acts at matching time; that is, it is really an - option for pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(). If it is set at compile - time, it is remembered with the compiled pattern and assumed at match- - ing time. For details see the discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE + This is an option that acts at matching time; that is, it is really an + option for pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(). If it is set at compile + time, it is remembered with the compiled pattern and assumed at match- + ing time. For details see the discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE below. PCRE_UCP - This option changes the way PCRE processes \B, \b, \D, \d, \S, \s, \W, - \w, and some of the POSIX character classes. By default, only ASCII - characters are recognized, but if PCRE_UCP is set, Unicode properties - are used instead to classify characters. More details are given in the - section on generic character types in the pcrepattern page. If you set - PCRE_UCP, matching one of the items it affects takes much longer. The - option is available only if PCRE has been compiled with Unicode prop- + This option changes the way PCRE processes \B, \b, \D, \d, \S, \s, \W, + \w, and some of the POSIX character classes. By default, only ASCII + characters are recognized, but if PCRE_UCP is set, Unicode properties + are used instead to classify characters. More details are given in the + section on generic character types in the pcrepattern page. If you set + PCRE_UCP, matching one of the items it affects takes much longer. The + option is available only if PCRE has been compiled with Unicode prop- erty support. PCRE_UNGREEDY - This option inverts the "greediness" of the quantifiers so that they - are not greedy by default, but become greedy if followed by "?". It is - not compatible with Perl. It can also be set by a (?U) option setting + This option inverts the "greediness" of the quantifiers so that they + are not greedy by default, but become greedy if followed by "?". It is + not compatible with Perl. It can also be set by a (?U) option setting within the pattern. PCRE_UTF8 - This option causes PCRE to regard both the pattern and the subject as - strings of UTF-8 characters instead of single-byte character strings. - However, it is available only when PCRE is built to include UTF-8 sup- - port. If not, the use of this option provokes an error. Details of how - this option changes the behaviour of PCRE are given in the section on + This option causes PCRE to regard both the pattern and the subject as + strings of UTF-8 characters instead of single-byte character strings. + However, it is available only when PCRE is built to include UTF-8 sup- + port. If not, the use of this option provokes an error. Details of how + this option changes the behaviour of PCRE are given in the section on UTF-8 support in the main pcre page. PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK When PCRE_UTF8 is set, the validity of the pattern as a UTF-8 string is - automatically checked. There is a discussion about the validity of - UTF-8 strings in the main pcre page. If an invalid UTF-8 sequence of - bytes is found, pcre_compile() returns an error. If you already know + automatically checked. There is a discussion about the validity of + UTF-8 strings in the main pcre page. If an invalid UTF-8 sequence of + bytes is found, pcre_compile() returns an error. If you already know that your pattern is valid, and you want to skip this check for perfor- - mance reasons, you can set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option. When it is - set, the effect of passing an invalid UTF-8 string as a pattern is - undefined. It may cause your program to crash. Note that this option - can also be passed to pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec(), to suppress the + mance reasons, you can set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option. When it is + set, the effect of passing an invalid UTF-8 string as a pattern is + undefined. It may cause your program to crash. Note that this option + can also be passed to pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec(), to suppress the UTF-8 validity checking of subject strings. COMPILATION ERROR CODES - The following table lists the error codes than may be returned by - pcre_compile2(), along with the error messages that may be returned by - both compiling functions. As PCRE has developed, some error codes have + The following table lists the error codes than may be returned by + pcre_compile2(), along with the error messages that may be returned by + both compiling functions. As PCRE has developed, some error codes have fallen out of use. To avoid confusion, they have not been re-used. 0 no error @@ -1526,7 +1549,7 @@ COMPILATION ERROR CODES 66 (*MARK) must have an argument 67 this version of PCRE is not compiled with PCRE_UCP support - The numbers 32 and 10000 in errors 48 and 49 are defaults; different + The numbers 32 and 10000 in errors 48 and 49 are defaults; different values may be used if the limits were changed when PCRE was built. @@ -1535,32 +1558,32 @@ STUDYING A PATTERN pcre_extra *pcre_study(const pcre *code, int options const char **errptr); - If a compiled pattern is going to be used several times, it is worth + If a compiled pattern is going to be used several times, it is worth spending more time analyzing it in order to speed up the time taken for - matching. The function pcre_study() takes a pointer to a compiled pat- + matching. The function pcre_study() takes a pointer to a compiled pat- tern as its first argument. If studying the pattern produces additional - information that will help speed up matching, pcre_study() returns a - pointer to a pcre_extra block, in which the study_data field points to + information that will help speed up matching, pcre_study() returns a + pointer to a pcre_extra block, in which the study_data field points to the results of the study. The returned value from pcre_study() can be passed directly to - pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(). However, a pcre_extra block also con- - tains other fields that can be set by the caller before the block is + pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(). However, a pcre_extra block also con- + tains other fields that can be set by the caller before the block is passed; these are described below in the section on matching a pattern. - If studying the pattern does not produce any useful information, + If studying the pattern does not produce any useful information, pcre_study() returns NULL. In that circumstance, if the calling program - wants to pass any of the other fields to pcre_exec() or + wants to pass any of the other fields to pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(), it must set up its own pcre_extra block. - The second argument of pcre_study() contains option bits. At present, + The second argument of pcre_study() contains option bits. At present, no options are defined, and this argument should always be zero. - The third argument for pcre_study() is a pointer for an error message. - If studying succeeds (even if no data is returned), the variable it - points to is set to NULL. Otherwise it is set to point to a textual + The third argument for pcre_study() is a pointer for an error message. + If studying succeeds (even if no data is returned), the variable it + points to is set to NULL. Otherwise it is set to point to a textual error message. This is a static string that is part of the library. You - must not try to free it. You should test the error pointer for NULL + must not try to free it. You should test the error pointer for NULL after calling pcre_study(), to be sure that it has run successfully. This is a typical call to pcre_study(): @@ -1574,78 +1597,78 @@ STUDYING A PATTERN Studying a pattern does two things: first, a lower bound for the length of subject string that is needed to match the pattern is computed. This does not mean that there are any strings of that length that match, but - it does guarantee that no shorter strings match. The value is used by - pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec() to avoid wasting time by trying to - match strings that are shorter than the lower bound. You can find out + it does guarantee that no shorter strings match. The value is used by + pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec() to avoid wasting time by trying to + match strings that are shorter than the lower bound. You can find out the value in a calling program via the pcre_fullinfo() function. Studying a pattern is also useful for non-anchored patterns that do not - have a single fixed starting character. A bitmap of possible starting - bytes is created. This speeds up finding a position in the subject at + have a single fixed starting character. A bitmap of possible starting + bytes is created. This speeds up finding a position in the subject at which to start matching. - The two optimizations just described can be disabled by setting the - PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option when calling pcre_exec() or - pcre_dfa_exec(). You might want to do this if your pattern contains - callouts or (*MARK), and you want to make use of these facilities in - cases where matching fails. See the discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTI- + The two optimizations just described can be disabled by setting the + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option when calling pcre_exec() or + pcre_dfa_exec(). You might want to do this if your pattern contains + callouts or (*MARK), and you want to make use of these facilities in + cases where matching fails. See the discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTI- MIZE below. LOCALE SUPPORT - PCRE handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are - letters, digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed - by character value. When running in UTF-8 mode, this applies only to - characters with codes less than 128. By default, higher-valued codes + PCRE handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are + letters, digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed + by character value. When running in UTF-8 mode, this applies only to + characters with codes less than 128. By default, higher-valued codes never match escapes such as \w or \d, but they can be tested with \p if - PCRE is built with Unicode character property support. Alternatively, - the PCRE_UCP option can be set at compile time; this causes \w and + PCRE is built with Unicode character property support. Alternatively, + the PCRE_UCP option can be set at compile time; this causes \w and friends to use Unicode property support instead of built-in tables. The use of locales with Unicode is discouraged. If you are handling charac- - ters with codes greater than 128, you should either use UTF-8 and Uni- + ters with codes greater than 128, you should either use UTF-8 and Uni- code, or use locales, but not try to mix the two. - PCRE contains an internal set of tables that are used when the final - argument of pcre_compile() is NULL. These are sufficient for many + PCRE contains an internal set of tables that are used when the final + argument of pcre_compile() is NULL. These are sufficient for many applications. Normally, the internal tables recognize only ASCII char- acters. However, when PCRE is built, it is possible to cause the inter- nal tables to be rebuilt in the default "C" locale of the local system, which may cause them to be different. - The internal tables can always be overridden by tables supplied by the + The internal tables can always be overridden by tables supplied by the application that calls PCRE. These may be created in a different locale - from the default. As more and more applications change to using Uni- + from the default. As more and more applications change to using Uni- code, the need for this locale support is expected to die away. - External tables are built by calling the pcre_maketables() function, - which has no arguments, in the relevant locale. The result can then be - passed to pcre_compile() or pcre_exec() as often as necessary. For - example, to build and use tables that are appropriate for the French - locale (where accented characters with values greater than 128 are + External tables are built by calling the pcre_maketables() function, + which has no arguments, in the relevant locale. The result can then be + passed to pcre_compile() or pcre_exec() as often as necessary. For + example, to build and use tables that are appropriate for the French + locale (where accented characters with values greater than 128 are treated as letters), the following code could be used: setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "fr_FR"); tables = pcre_maketables(); re = pcre_compile(..., tables); - The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; + The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; if you are using Windows, the name for the French locale is "french". - When pcre_maketables() runs, the tables are built in memory that is - obtained via pcre_malloc. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure - that the memory containing the tables remains available for as long as + When pcre_maketables() runs, the tables are built in memory that is + obtained via pcre_malloc. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure + that the memory containing the tables remains available for as long as it is needed. The pointer that is passed to pcre_compile() is saved with the compiled - pattern, and the same tables are used via this pointer by pcre_study() + pattern, and the same tables are used via this pointer by pcre_study() and normally also by pcre_exec(). Thus, by default, for any single pat- tern, compilation, studying and matching all happen in the same locale, but different patterns can be compiled in different locales. - It is possible to pass a table pointer or NULL (indicating the use of - the internal tables) to pcre_exec(). Although not intended for this - purpose, this facility could be used to match a pattern in a different + It is possible to pass a table pointer or NULL (indicating the use of + the internal tables) to pcre_exec(). Although not intended for this + purpose, this facility could be used to match a pattern in a different locale from the one in which it was compiled. Passing table pointers at run time is discussed below in the section on matching a pattern. @@ -1655,15 +1678,15 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN int pcre_fullinfo(const pcre *code, const pcre_extra *extra, int what, void *where); - The pcre_fullinfo() function returns information about a compiled pat- + The pcre_fullinfo() function returns information about a compiled pat- tern. It replaces the obsolete pcre_info() function, which is neverthe- less retained for backwards compability (and is documented below). - The first argument for pcre_fullinfo() is a pointer to the compiled - pattern. The second argument is the result of pcre_study(), or NULL if - the pattern was not studied. The third argument specifies which piece - of information is required, and the fourth argument is a pointer to a - variable to receive the data. The yield of the function is zero for + The first argument for pcre_fullinfo() is a pointer to the compiled + pattern. The second argument is the result of pcre_study(), or NULL if + the pattern was not studied. The third argument specifies which piece + of information is required, and the fourth argument is a pointer to a + variable to receive the data. The yield of the function is zero for success, or one of the following negative numbers: PCRE_ERROR_NULL the argument code was NULL @@ -1671,9 +1694,9 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN PCRE_ERROR_BADMAGIC the "magic number" was not found PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION the value of what was invalid - The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as - an simple check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. Here is a - typical call of pcre_fullinfo(), to obtain the length of the compiled + The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as + an simple check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. Here is a + typical call of pcre_fullinfo(), to obtain the length of the compiled pattern: int rc; @@ -1684,131 +1707,131 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN PCRE_INFO_SIZE, /* what is required */ &length); /* where to put the data */ - The possible values for the third argument are defined in pcre.h, and + The possible values for the third argument are defined in pcre.h, and are as follows: PCRE_INFO_BACKREFMAX - Return the number of the highest back reference in the pattern. The - fourth argument should point to an int variable. Zero is returned if + Return the number of the highest back reference in the pattern. The + fourth argument should point to an int variable. Zero is returned if there are no back references. PCRE_INFO_CAPTURECOUNT - Return the number of capturing subpatterns in the pattern. The fourth + Return the number of capturing subpatterns in the pattern. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. PCRE_INFO_DEFAULT_TABLES - Return a pointer to the internal default character tables within PCRE. - The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * variable. This + Return a pointer to the internal default character tables within PCRE. + The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * variable. This information call is provided for internal use by the pcre_study() func- - tion. External callers can cause PCRE to use its internal tables by + tion. External callers can cause PCRE to use its internal tables by passing a NULL table pointer. PCRE_INFO_FIRSTBYTE - Return information about the first byte of any matched string, for a - non-anchored pattern. The fourth argument should point to an int vari- - able. (This option used to be called PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHAR; the old name + Return information about the first byte of any matched string, for a + non-anchored pattern. The fourth argument should point to an int vari- + able. (This option used to be called PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHAR; the old name is still recognized for backwards compatibility.) - If there is a fixed first byte, for example, from a pattern such as + If there is a fixed first byte, for example, from a pattern such as (cat|cow|coyote), its value is returned. Otherwise, if either - (a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every + (a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every branch starts with "^", or (b) every branch of the pattern starts with ".*" and PCRE_DOTALL is not set (if it were set, the pattern would be anchored), - -1 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start - of a subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise + -1 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start + of a subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise -2 is returned. For anchored patterns, -2 is returned. PCRE_INFO_FIRSTTABLE - If the pattern was studied, and this resulted in the construction of a + If the pattern was studied, and this resulted in the construction of a 256-bit table indicating a fixed set of bytes for the first byte in any - matching string, a pointer to the table is returned. Otherwise NULL is - returned. The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * vari- + matching string, a pointer to the table is returned. Otherwise NULL is + returned. The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * vari- able. PCRE_INFO_HASCRORLF - Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF - characters, otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int - variable. An explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or + Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF + characters, otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int + variable. An explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or \r or \n. PCRE_INFO_JCHANGED - Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, - otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. (?J) + Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, + otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. (?J) and (?-J) set and unset the local PCRE_DUPNAMES option, respectively. PCRE_INFO_LASTLITERAL - Return the value of the rightmost literal byte that must exist in any - matched string, other than at its start, if such a byte has been + Return the value of the rightmost literal byte that must exist in any + matched string, other than at its start, if such a byte has been recorded. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. If there - is no such byte, -1 is returned. For anchored patterns, a last literal - byte is recorded only if it follows something of variable length. For + is no such byte, -1 is returned. For anchored patterns, a last literal + byte is recorded only if it follows something of variable length. For example, for the pattern /^a\d+z\d+/ the returned value is "z", but for /^a\dz\d/ the returned value is -1. PCRE_INFO_MINLENGTH - If the pattern was studied and a minimum length for matching subject - strings was computed, its value is returned. Otherwise the returned - value is -1. The value is a number of characters, not bytes (this may - be relevant in UTF-8 mode). The fourth argument should point to an int - variable. A non-negative value is a lower bound to the length of any - matching string. There may not be any strings of that length that do + If the pattern was studied and a minimum length for matching subject + strings was computed, its value is returned. Otherwise the returned + value is -1. The value is a number of characters, not bytes (this may + be relevant in UTF-8 mode). The fourth argument should point to an int + variable. A non-negative value is a lower bound to the length of any + matching string. There may not be any strings of that length that do actually match, but every string that does match is at least that long. PCRE_INFO_NAMECOUNT PCRE_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE PCRE_INFO_NAMETABLE - PCRE supports the use of named as well as numbered capturing parenthe- - ses. The names are just an additional way of identifying the parenthe- + PCRE supports the use of named as well as numbered capturing parenthe- + ses. The names are just an additional way of identifying the parenthe- ses, which still acquire numbers. Several convenience functions such as - pcre_get_named_substring() are provided for extracting captured sub- - strings by name. It is also possible to extract the data directly, by - first converting the name to a number in order to access the correct + pcre_get_named_substring() are provided for extracting captured sub- + strings by name. It is also possible to extract the data directly, by + first converting the name to a number in order to access the correct pointers in the output vector (described with pcre_exec() below). To do - the conversion, you need to use the name-to-number map, which is + the conversion, you need to use the name-to-number map, which is described by these three values. The map consists of a number of fixed-size entries. PCRE_INFO_NAMECOUNT gives the number of entries, and PCRE_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE gives the size - of each entry; both of these return an int value. The entry size - depends on the length of the longest name. PCRE_INFO_NAMETABLE returns - a pointer to the first entry of the table (a pointer to char). The + of each entry; both of these return an int value. The entry size + depends on the length of the longest name. PCRE_INFO_NAMETABLE returns + a pointer to the first entry of the table (a pointer to char). The first two bytes of each entry are the number of the capturing parenthe- - sis, most significant byte first. The rest of the entry is the corre- + sis, most significant byte first. The rest of the entry is the corre- sponding name, zero terminated. - The names are in alphabetical order. Duplicate names may appear if (?| + The names are in alphabetical order. Duplicate names may appear if (?| is used to create multiple groups with the same number, as described in - the section on duplicate subpattern numbers in the pcrepattern page. - Duplicate names for subpatterns with different numbers are permitted - only if PCRE_DUPNAMES is set. In all cases of duplicate names, they - appear in the table in the order in which they were found in the pat- - tern. In the absence of (?| this is the order of increasing number; + the section on duplicate subpattern numbers in the pcrepattern page. + Duplicate names for subpatterns with different numbers are permitted + only if PCRE_DUPNAMES is set. In all cases of duplicate names, they + appear in the table in the order in which they were found in the pat- + tern. In the absence of (?| this is the order of increasing number; when (?| is used this is not necessarily the case because later subpat- terns may have lower numbers. - As a simple example of the name/number table, consider the following - pattern (assume PCRE_EXTENDED is set, so white space - including new- + As a simple example of the name/number table, consider the following + pattern (assume PCRE_EXTENDED is set, so white space - including new- lines - is ignored): (?<date> (?<year>(\d\d)?\d\d) - (?<month>\d\d) - (?<day>\d\d) ) - There are four named subpatterns, so the table has four entries, and - each entry in the table is eight bytes long. The table is as follows, + There are four named subpatterns, so the table has four entries, and + each entry in the table is eight bytes long. The table is as follows, with non-printing bytes shows in hexadecimal, and undefined bytes shown as ??: @@ -1817,31 +1840,31 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN 00 04 m o n t h 00 00 02 y e a r 00 ?? - When writing code to extract data from named subpatterns using the - name-to-number map, remember that the length of the entries is likely + When writing code to extract data from named subpatterns using the + name-to-number map, remember that the length of the entries is likely to be different for each compiled pattern. PCRE_INFO_OKPARTIAL - Return 1 if the pattern can be used for partial matching with - pcre_exec(), otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int - variable. From release 8.00, this always returns 1, because the - restrictions that previously applied to partial matching have been - lifted. The pcrepartial documentation gives details of partial match- + Return 1 if the pattern can be used for partial matching with + pcre_exec(), otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int + variable. From release 8.00, this always returns 1, because the + restrictions that previously applied to partial matching have been + lifted. The pcrepartial documentation gives details of partial match- ing. PCRE_INFO_OPTIONS - Return a copy of the options with which the pattern was compiled. The - fourth argument should point to an unsigned long int variable. These + Return a copy of the options with which the pattern was compiled. The + fourth argument should point to an unsigned long int variable. These option bits are those specified in the call to pcre_compile(), modified by any top-level option settings at the start of the pattern itself. In - other words, they are the options that will be in force when matching - starts. For example, if the pattern /(?im)abc(?-i)d/ is compiled with - the PCRE_EXTENDED option, the result is PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, + other words, they are the options that will be in force when matching + starts. For example, if the pattern /(?im)abc(?-i)d/ is compiled with + the PCRE_EXTENDED option, the result is PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, and PCRE_EXTENDED. - A pattern is automatically anchored by PCRE if all of its top-level + A pattern is automatically anchored by PCRE if all of its top-level alternatives begin with one of the following: ^ unless PCRE_MULTILINE is set @@ -1855,7 +1878,7 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN PCRE_INFO_SIZE - Return the size of the compiled pattern, that is, the value that was + Return the size of the compiled pattern, that is, the value that was passed as the argument to pcre_malloc() when PCRE was getting memory in which to place the compiled data. The fourth argument should point to a size_t variable. @@ -1863,10 +1886,10 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN PCRE_INFO_STUDYSIZE Return the size of the data block pointed to by the study_data field in - a pcre_extra block. That is, it is the value that was passed to + a pcre_extra block. That is, it is the value that was passed to pcre_malloc() when PCRE was getting memory into which to place the data - created by pcre_study(). If pcre_extra is NULL, or there is no study - data, zero is returned. The fourth argument should point to a size_t + created by pcre_study(). If pcre_extra is NULL, or there is no study + data, zero is returned. The fourth argument should point to a size_t variable. @@ -1874,21 +1897,21 @@ OBSOLETE INFO FUNCTION int pcre_info(const pcre *code, int *optptr, int *firstcharptr); - The pcre_info() function is now obsolete because its interface is too - restrictive to return all the available data about a compiled pattern. - New programs should use pcre_fullinfo() instead. The yield of - pcre_info() is the number of capturing subpatterns, or one of the fol- + The pcre_info() function is now obsolete because its interface is too + restrictive to return all the available data about a compiled pattern. + New programs should use pcre_fullinfo() instead. The yield of + pcre_info() is the number of capturing subpatterns, or one of the fol- lowing negative numbers: PCRE_ERROR_NULL the argument code was NULL PCRE_ERROR_BADMAGIC the "magic number" was not found - If the optptr argument is not NULL, a copy of the options with which - the pattern was compiled is placed in the integer it points to (see + If the optptr argument is not NULL, a copy of the options with which + the pattern was compiled is placed in the integer it points to (see PCRE_INFO_OPTIONS above). - If the pattern is not anchored and the firstcharptr argument is not - NULL, it is used to pass back information about the first character of + If the pattern is not anchored and the firstcharptr argument is not + NULL, it is used to pass back information about the first character of any matched string (see PCRE_INFO_FIRSTBYTE above). @@ -1896,21 +1919,21 @@ REFERENCE COUNTS int pcre_refcount(pcre *code, int adjust); - The pcre_refcount() function is used to maintain a reference count in + The pcre_refcount() function is used to maintain a reference count in the data block that contains a compiled pattern. It is provided for the - benefit of applications that operate in an object-oriented manner, + benefit of applications that operate in an object-oriented manner, where different parts of the application may be using the same compiled pattern, but you want to free the block when they are all done. When a pattern is compiled, the reference count field is initialized to - zero. It is changed only by calling this function, whose action is to - add the adjust value (which may be positive or negative) to it. The + zero. It is changed only by calling this function, whose action is to + add the adjust value (which may be positive or negative) to it. The yield of the function is the new value. However, the value of the count - is constrained to lie between 0 and 65535, inclusive. If the new value + is constrained to lie between 0 and 65535, inclusive. If the new value is outside these limits, it is forced to the appropriate limit value. - Except when it is zero, the reference count is not correctly preserved - if a pattern is compiled on one host and then transferred to a host + Except when it is zero, the reference count is not correctly preserved + if a pattern is compiled on one host and then transferred to a host whose byte-order is different. (This seems a highly unlikely scenario.) @@ -1920,18 +1943,18 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION const char *subject, int length, int startoffset, int options, int *ovector, int ovecsize); - The function pcre_exec() is called to match a subject string against a - compiled pattern, which is passed in the code argument. If the pattern - was studied, the result of the study should be passed in the extra - argument. This function is the main matching facility of the library, + The function pcre_exec() is called to match a subject string against a + compiled pattern, which is passed in the code argument. If the pattern + was studied, the result of the study should be passed in the extra + argument. This function is the main matching facility of the library, and it operates in a Perl-like manner. For specialist use there is also - an alternative matching function, which is described below in the sec- + an alternative matching function, which is described below in the sec- tion about the pcre_dfa_exec() function. - In most applications, the pattern will have been compiled (and option- - ally studied) in the same process that calls pcre_exec(). However, it + In most applications, the pattern will have been compiled (and option- + ally studied) in the same process that calls pcre_exec(). However, it is possible to save compiled patterns and study data, and then use them - later in different processes, possibly even on different hosts. For a + later in different processes, possibly even on different hosts. For a discussion about this, see the pcreprecompile documentation. Here is an example of a simple call to pcre_exec(): @@ -1950,10 +1973,10 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION Extra data for pcre_exec() - If the extra argument is not NULL, it must point to a pcre_extra data - block. The pcre_study() function returns such a block (when it doesn't - return NULL), but you can also create one for yourself, and pass addi- - tional information in it. The pcre_extra block contains the following + If the extra argument is not NULL, it must point to a pcre_extra data + block. The pcre_study() function returns such a block (when it doesn't + return NULL), but you can also create one for yourself, and pass addi- + tional information in it. The pcre_extra block contains the following fields (not necessarily in this order): unsigned long int flags; @@ -1964,7 +1987,7 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION const unsigned char *tables; unsigned char **mark; - The flags field is a bitmap that specifies which of the other fields + The flags field is a bitmap that specifies which of the other fields are set. The flag bits are: PCRE_EXTRA_STUDY_DATA @@ -1974,96 +1997,96 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_EXTRA_TABLES PCRE_EXTRA_MARK - Other flag bits should be set to zero. The study_data field is set in - the pcre_extra block that is returned by pcre_study(), together with + Other flag bits should be set to zero. The study_data field is set in + the pcre_extra block that is returned by pcre_study(), together with the appropriate flag bit. You should not set this yourself, but you may - add to the block by setting the other fields and their corresponding + add to the block by setting the other fields and their corresponding flag bits. The match_limit field provides a means of preventing PCRE from using up - a vast amount of resources when running patterns that are not going to - match, but which have a very large number of possibilities in their - search trees. The classic example is a pattern that uses nested unlim- + a vast amount of resources when running patterns that are not going to + match, but which have a very large number of possibilities in their + search trees. The classic example is a pattern that uses nested unlim- ited repeats. - Internally, PCRE uses a function called match() which it calls repeat- - edly (sometimes recursively). The limit set by match_limit is imposed - on the number of times this function is called during a match, which - has the effect of limiting the amount of backtracking that can take + Internally, PCRE uses a function called match() which it calls repeat- + edly (sometimes recursively). The limit set by match_limit is imposed + on the number of times this function is called during a match, which + has the effect of limiting the amount of backtracking that can take place. For patterns that are not anchored, the count restarts from zero for each position in the subject string. - The default value for the limit can be set when PCRE is built; the - default default is 10 million, which handles all but the most extreme - cases. You can override the default by suppling pcre_exec() with a - pcre_extra block in which match_limit is set, and - PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT is set in the flags field. If the limit is + The default value for the limit can be set when PCRE is built; the + default default is 10 million, which handles all but the most extreme + cases. You can override the default by suppling pcre_exec() with a + pcre_extra block in which match_limit is set, and + PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT is set in the flags field. If the limit is exceeded, pcre_exec() returns PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT. - The match_limit_recursion field is similar to match_limit, but instead + The match_limit_recursion field is similar to match_limit, but instead of limiting the total number of times that match() is called, it limits - the depth of recursion. The recursion depth is a smaller number than - the total number of calls, because not all calls to match() are recur- + the depth of recursion. The recursion depth is a smaller number than + the total number of calls, because not all calls to match() are recur- sive. This limit is of use only if it is set smaller than match_limit. - Limiting the recursion depth limits the amount of stack that can be + Limiting the recursion depth limits the amount of stack that can be used, or, when PCRE has been compiled to use memory on the heap instead of the stack, the amount of heap memory that can be used. - The default value for match_limit_recursion can be set when PCRE is - built; the default default is the same value as the default for - match_limit. You can override the default by suppling pcre_exec() with - a pcre_extra block in which match_limit_recursion is set, and - PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION is set in the flags field. If the + The default value for match_limit_recursion can be set when PCRE is + built; the default default is the same value as the default for + match_limit. You can override the default by suppling pcre_exec() with + a pcre_extra block in which match_limit_recursion is set, and + PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION is set in the flags field. If the limit is exceeded, pcre_exec() returns PCRE_ERROR_RECURSIONLIMIT. - The callout_data field is used in conjunction with the "callout" fea- + The callout_data field is used in conjunction with the "callout" fea- ture, and is described in the pcrecallout documentation. - The tables field is used to pass a character tables pointer to - pcre_exec(); this overrides the value that is stored with the compiled - pattern. A non-NULL value is stored with the compiled pattern only if - custom tables were supplied to pcre_compile() via its tableptr argu- + The tables field is used to pass a character tables pointer to + pcre_exec(); this overrides the value that is stored with the compiled + pattern. A non-NULL value is stored with the compiled pattern only if + custom tables were supplied to pcre_compile() via its tableptr argu- ment. If NULL is passed to pcre_exec() using this mechanism, it forces - PCRE's internal tables to be used. This facility is helpful when re- - using patterns that have been saved after compiling with an external - set of tables, because the external tables might be at a different - address when pcre_exec() is called. See the pcreprecompile documenta- + PCRE's internal tables to be used. This facility is helpful when re- + using patterns that have been saved after compiling with an external + set of tables, because the external tables might be at a different + address when pcre_exec() is called. See the pcreprecompile documenta- tion for a discussion of saving compiled patterns for later use. - If PCRE_EXTRA_MARK is set in the flags field, the mark field must be - set to point to a char * variable. If the pattern contains any back- - tracking control verbs such as (*MARK:NAME), and the execution ends up - with a name to pass back, a pointer to the name string (zero termi- - nated) is placed in the variable pointed to by the mark field. The - names are within the compiled pattern; if you wish to retain such a - name you must copy it before freeing the memory of a compiled pattern. - If there is no name to pass back, the variable pointed to by the mark - field set to NULL. For details of the backtracking control verbs, see + If PCRE_EXTRA_MARK is set in the flags field, the mark field must be + set to point to a char * variable. If the pattern contains any back- + tracking control verbs such as (*MARK:NAME), and the execution ends up + with a name to pass back, a pointer to the name string (zero termi- + nated) is placed in the variable pointed to by the mark field. The + names are within the compiled pattern; if you wish to retain such a + name you must copy it before freeing the memory of a compiled pattern. + If there is no name to pass back, the variable pointed to by the mark + field set to NULL. For details of the backtracking control verbs, see the section entitled "Backtracking control" in the pcrepattern documen- tation. Option bits for pcre_exec() - The unused bits of the options argument for pcre_exec() must be zero. - The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEWLINE_xxx, - PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, - PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT, and + The unused bits of the options argument for pcre_exec() must be zero. + The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEWLINE_xxx, + PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT, and PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD. PCRE_ANCHORED - The PCRE_ANCHORED option limits pcre_exec() to matching at the first - matching position. If a pattern was compiled with PCRE_ANCHORED, or - turned out to be anchored by virtue of its contents, it cannot be made + The PCRE_ANCHORED option limits pcre_exec() to matching at the first + matching position. If a pattern was compiled with PCRE_ANCHORED, or + turned out to be anchored by virtue of its contents, it cannot be made unachored at matching time. PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF PCRE_BSR_UNICODE These options (which are mutually exclusive) control what the \R escape - sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, - or to match any Unicode newline sequence. These options override the + sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, + or to match any Unicode newline sequence. These options override the choice that was made or defaulted when the pattern was compiled. PCRE_NEWLINE_CR @@ -2072,149 +2095,152 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY - These options override the newline definition that was chosen or - defaulted when the pattern was compiled. For details, see the descrip- - tion of pcre_compile() above. During matching, the newline choice - affects the behaviour of the dot, circumflex, and dollar metacharac- - ters. It may also alter the way the match position is advanced after a + These options override the newline definition that was chosen or + defaulted when the pattern was compiled. For details, see the descrip- + tion of pcre_compile() above. During matching, the newline choice + affects the behaviour of the dot, circumflex, and dollar metacharac- + ters. It may also alter the way the match position is advanced after a match failure for an unanchored pattern. - When PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF, or PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY is - set, and a match attempt for an unanchored pattern fails when the cur- - rent position is at a CRLF sequence, and the pattern contains no - explicit matches for CR or LF characters, the match position is + When PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF, or PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY is + set, and a match attempt for an unanchored pattern fails when the cur- + rent position is at a CRLF sequence, and the pattern contains no + explicit matches for CR or LF characters, the match position is advanced by two characters instead of one, in other words, to after the CRLF. The above rule is a compromise that makes the most common cases work as - expected. For example, if the pattern is .+A (and the PCRE_DOTALL + expected. For example, if the pattern is .+A (and the PCRE_DOTALL option is not set), it does not match the string "\r\nA" because, after - failing at the start, it skips both the CR and the LF before retrying. - However, the pattern [\r\n]A does match that string, because it con- + failing at the start, it skips both the CR and the LF before retrying. + However, the pattern [\r\n]A does match that string, because it con- tains an explicit CR or LF reference, and so advances only by one char- acter after the first failure. An explicit match for CR of LF is either a literal appearance of one of - those characters, or one of the \r or \n escape sequences. Implicit - matches such as [^X] do not count, nor does \s (which includes CR and + those characters, or one of the \r or \n escape sequences. Implicit + matches such as [^X] do not count, nor does \s (which includes CR and LF in the characters that it matches). - Notwithstanding the above, anomalous effects may still occur when CRLF + Notwithstanding the above, anomalous effects may still occur when CRLF is a valid newline sequence and explicit \r or \n escapes appear in the pattern. PCRE_NOTBOL This option specifies that first character of the subject string is not - the beginning of a line, so the circumflex metacharacter should not - match before it. Setting this without PCRE_MULTILINE (at compile time) - causes circumflex never to match. This option affects only the behav- + the beginning of a line, so the circumflex metacharacter should not + match before it. Setting this without PCRE_MULTILINE (at compile time) + causes circumflex never to match. This option affects only the behav- iour of the circumflex metacharacter. It does not affect \A. PCRE_NOTEOL This option specifies that the end of the subject string is not the end - of a line, so the dollar metacharacter should not match it nor (except - in multiline mode) a newline immediately before it. Setting this with- + of a line, so the dollar metacharacter should not match it nor (except + in multiline mode) a newline immediately before it. Setting this with- out PCRE_MULTILINE (at compile time) causes dollar never to match. This - option affects only the behaviour of the dollar metacharacter. It does + option affects only the behaviour of the dollar metacharacter. It does not affect \Z or \z. PCRE_NOTEMPTY An empty string is not considered to be a valid match if this option is - set. If there are alternatives in the pattern, they are tried. If all - the alternatives match the empty string, the entire match fails. For + set. If there are alternatives in the pattern, they are tried. If all + the alternatives match the empty string, the entire match fails. For example, if the pattern a?b? - is applied to a string not beginning with "a" or "b", it matches an - empty string at the start of the subject. With PCRE_NOTEMPTY set, this + is applied to a string not beginning with "a" or "b", it matches an + empty string at the start of the subject. With PCRE_NOTEMPTY set, this match is not valid, so PCRE searches further into the string for occur- rences of "a" or "b". PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART - This is like PCRE_NOTEMPTY, except that an empty string match that is - not at the start of the subject is permitted. If the pattern is + This is like PCRE_NOTEMPTY, except that an empty string match that is + not at the start of the subject is permitted. If the pattern is anchored, such a match can occur only if the pattern contains \K. - Perl has no direct equivalent of PCRE_NOTEMPTY or - PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, but it does make a special case of a pattern - match of the empty string within its split() function, and when using - the /g modifier. It is possible to emulate Perl's behaviour after + Perl has no direct equivalent of PCRE_NOTEMPTY or + PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, but it does make a special case of a pattern + match of the empty string within its split() function, and when using + the /g modifier. It is possible to emulate Perl's behaviour after matching a null string by first trying the match again at the same off- - set with PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and PCRE_ANCHORED, and then if that + set with PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and PCRE_ANCHORED, and then if that fails, by advancing the starting offset (see below) and trying an ordi- - nary match again. There is some code that demonstrates how to do this - in the pcredemo sample program. In the most general case, you have to - check to see if the newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, - and if so, and the current character is CR followed by LF, advance the + nary match again. There is some code that demonstrates how to do this + in the pcredemo sample program. In the most general case, you have to + check to see if the newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, + and if so, and the current character is CR followed by LF, advance the starting offset by two characters instead of one. PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE - There are a number of optimizations that pcre_exec() uses at the start - of a match, in order to speed up the process. For example, if it is + There are a number of optimizations that pcre_exec() uses at the start + of a match, in order to speed up the process. For example, if it is known that an unanchored match must start with a specific character, it - searches the subject for that character, and fails immediately if it - cannot find it, without actually running the main matching function. + searches the subject for that character, and fails immediately if it + cannot find it, without actually running the main matching function. This means that a special item such as (*COMMIT) at the start of a pat- - tern is not considered until after a suitable starting point for the - match has been found. When callouts or (*MARK) items are in use, these + tern is not considered until after a suitable starting point for the + match has been found. When callouts or (*MARK) items are in use, these "start-up" optimizations can cause them to be skipped if the pattern is - never actually used. The start-up optimizations are in effect a pre- + never actually used. The start-up optimizations are in effect a pre- scan of the subject that takes place before the pattern is run. - The PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option disables the start-up optimizations, - possibly causing performance to suffer, but ensuring that in cases - where the result is "no match", the callouts do occur, and that items + The PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option disables the start-up optimizations, + possibly causing performance to suffer, but ensuring that in cases + where the result is "no match", the callouts do occur, and that items such as (*COMMIT) and (*MARK) are considered at every possible starting - position in the subject string. If PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is set at + position in the subject string. If PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is set at compile time, it cannot be unset at matching time. - Setting PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE can change the outcome of a matching + Setting PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE can change the outcome of a matching operation. Consider the pattern (*COMMIT)ABC - When this is compiled, PCRE records the fact that a match must start - with the character "A". Suppose the subject string is "DEFABC". The - start-up optimization scans along the subject, finds "A" and runs the - first match attempt from there. The (*COMMIT) item means that the pat- - tern must match the current starting position, which in this case, it - does. However, if the same match is run with PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE - set, the initial scan along the subject string does not happen. The - first match attempt is run starting from "D" and when this fails, - (*COMMIT) prevents any further matches being tried, so the overall - result is "no match". If the pattern is studied, more start-up opti- - mizations may be used. For example, a minimum length for the subject + When this is compiled, PCRE records the fact that a match must start + with the character "A". Suppose the subject string is "DEFABC". The + start-up optimization scans along the subject, finds "A" and runs the + first match attempt from there. The (*COMMIT) item means that the pat- + tern must match the current starting position, which in this case, it + does. However, if the same match is run with PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE + set, the initial scan along the subject string does not happen. The + first match attempt is run starting from "D" and when this fails, + (*COMMIT) prevents any further matches being tried, so the overall + result is "no match". If the pattern is studied, more start-up opti- + mizations may be used. For example, a minimum length for the subject may be recorded. Consider the pattern (*MARK:A)(X|Y) - The minimum length for a match is one character. If the subject is - "ABC", there will be attempts to match "ABC", "BC", "C", and then - finally an empty string. If the pattern is studied, the final attempt - does not take place, because PCRE knows that the subject is too short, - and so the (*MARK) is never encountered. In this case, studying the - pattern does not affect the overall match result, which is still "no + The minimum length for a match is one character. If the subject is + "ABC", there will be attempts to match "ABC", "BC", "C", and then + finally an empty string. If the pattern is studied, the final attempt + does not take place, because PCRE knows that the subject is too short, + and so the (*MARK) is never encountered. In this case, studying the + pattern does not affect the overall match result, which is still "no match", but it does affect the auxiliary information that is returned. PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK When PCRE_UTF8 is set at compile time, the validity of the subject as a - UTF-8 string is automatically checked when pcre_exec() is subsequently - called. The value of startoffset is also checked to ensure that it - points to the start of a UTF-8 character. There is a discussion about - the validity of UTF-8 strings in the section on UTF-8 support in the - main pcre page. If an invalid UTF-8 sequence of bytes is found, - pcre_exec() returns the error PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or, if PCRE_PAR- - TIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated UTF-8 character at the - end of the subject, PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8. If startoffset contains a - value that does not point to the start of a UTF-8 character (or to the - end of the subject), PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET is returned. + UTF-8 string is automatically checked when pcre_exec() is subsequently + called. The value of startoffset is also checked to ensure that it + points to the start of a UTF-8 character. There is a discussion about + the validity of UTF-8 strings in the section on UTF-8 support in the + main pcre page. If an invalid UTF-8 sequence of bytes is found, + pcre_exec() returns the error PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or, if PCRE_PAR- + TIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated UTF-8 character at the + end of the subject, PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8. In both cases, information + about the precise nature of the error may also be returned (see the + descriptions of these errors in the section entitled Error return val- + ues from pcre_exec() below). If startoffset contains a value that does + not point to the start of a UTF-8 character (or to the end of the sub- + ject), PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET is returned. If you already know that your subject is valid, and you want to skip these checks for performance reasons, you can set the @@ -2444,13 +2470,19 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 (-10) A string that contains an invalid UTF-8 byte sequence was passed as a - subject. However, if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a - truncated UTF-8 character at the end of the subject, PCRE_ERROR_SHORT- - UTF8 is used instead. + subject, and the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set. If the size of + the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the byte offset to the + start of the the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the first ele- + ment, and a reason code is placed in the second element. The reason + codes are listed in the following section. For backward compatibility, + if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated UTF-8 char- + acter at the end of the subject (reason codes 1 to 5), + PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8 is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET (-11) - The UTF-8 byte sequence that was passed as a subject was valid, but the + The UTF-8 byte sequence that was passed as a subject was checked and + found to be valid (the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set), but the value of startoffset did not point to the beginning of a UTF-8 charac- ter or the end of the subject. @@ -2492,12 +2524,97 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8 (-25) - The subject string ended with an incomplete (truncated) UTF-8 charac- - ter, and the PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD option was set. Without this option, - PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 is returned in this situation. + This error is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 when the subject + string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character and the PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD + option is set. Information about the failure is returned as for + PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. It is in fact sufficient to detect this case, but + this special error code for PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD precedes the implementa- + tion of returned information; it is retained for backwards compatibil- + ity. + + PCRE_ERROR_RECURSELOOP (-26) + + This error is returned when pcre_exec() detects a recursion loop within + the pattern. Specifically, it means that either the whole pattern or a + subpattern has been called recursively for the second time at the same + position in the subject string. Some simple patterns that might do this + are detected and faulted at compile time, but more complicated cases, + in particular mutual recursions between two different subpatterns, can- + not be detected until run time. Error numbers -16 to -20 and -22 are not used by pcre_exec(). + Reason codes for invalid UTF-8 strings + + When pcre_exec() returns either PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or PCRE_ERROR_SHORT- + UTF8, and the size of the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the + offset of the start of the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the + first output vector element (ovector[0]) and a reason code is placed in + the second element (ovector[1]). The reason codes are given names in + the pcre.h header file: + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR1 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR2 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR3 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR4 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR5 + + The string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character; the code specifies + how many bytes are missing (1 to 5). Although RFC 3629 restricts UTF-8 + characters to be no longer than 4 bytes, the encoding scheme (origi- + nally defined by RFC 2279) allows for up to 6 bytes, and this is + checked first; hence the possibility of 4 or 5 missing bytes. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR6 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR7 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR8 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR9 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR10 + + The two most significant bits of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th byte of + the character do not have the binary value 0b10 (that is, either the + most significant bit is 0, or the next bit is 1). + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR11 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR12 + + A character that is valid by the RFC 2279 rules is either 5 or 6 bytes + long; these code points are excluded by RFC 3629. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR13 + + A 4-byte character has a value greater than 0x10fff; these code points + are excluded by RFC 3629. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR14 + + A 3-byte character has a value in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff; this + range of code points are reserved by RFC 3629 for use with UTF-16, and + so are excluded from UTF-8. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR15 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR16 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR17 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR18 + PCRE_UTF8_ERR19 + + A 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-byte character is "overlong", that is, it codes + for a value that can be represented by fewer bytes, which is invalid. + For example, the two bytes 0xc0, 0xae give the value 0x2e, whose cor- + rect coding uses just one byte. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR20 + + The two most significant bits of the first byte of a character have the + binary value 0b10 (that is, the most significant bit is 1 and the sec- + ond is 0). Such a byte can only validly occur as the second or subse- + quent byte of a multi-byte character. + + PCRE_UTF8_ERR21 + + The first byte of a character has the value 0xfe or 0xff. These values + can never occur in a valid UTF-8 string. + EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NUMBER @@ -2673,9 +2790,9 @@ DUPLICATE SUBPATTERN NAMES the name-to-number table for the given name. The function itself returns the length of each entry, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if there are none. The format of the table is described above in the sec- - tion entitled Information about a pattern. Given all the relevant - entries for the name, you can extract each of their numbers, and hence - the captured data, if any. + tion entitled Information about a pattern above. Given all the rele- + vant entries for the name, you can extract each of their numbers, and + hence the captured data, if any. FINDING ALL POSSIBLE MATCHES @@ -2874,8 +2991,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 21 November 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 28 July 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -2956,21 +3073,22 @@ THE CALLOUT INTERFACE only argument to the callout function is a pointer to a pcre_callout block. This structure contains the following fields: - int version; - int callout_number; - int *offset_vector; - const char *subject; - int subject_length; - int start_match; - int current_position; - int capture_top; - int capture_last; - void *callout_data; - int pattern_position; - int next_item_length; + int version; + int callout_number; + int *offset_vector; + const char *subject; + int subject_length; + int start_match; + int current_position; + int capture_top; + int capture_last; + void *callout_data; + int pattern_position; + int next_item_length; + const unsigned char *mark; The version field is an integer containing the version number of the - block format. The initial version was 0; the current version is 1. The + block format. The initial version was 0; the current version is 2. The version number will change again in future if additional fields are added, but the intention is never to remove any of the existing fields. @@ -3030,6 +3148,12 @@ THE CALLOUT INTERFACE in distinguishing between different automatic callouts, which all have the same callout number. However, they are set for all callouts. + The mark field is present from version 2 of the pcre_callout structure. + In callouts from pcre_exec() it contains a pointer to the zero-termi- + nated name of the most recently passed (*MARK) item in the match, or + NULL if there are no (*MARK)s in the current matching path. In callouts + from pcre_dfa_exec() this field always contains NULL. + RETURN VALUES @@ -3056,8 +3180,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 21 November 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 31 July 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -3078,10 +3202,12 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL of what it does have are given in the section on UTF-8 support in the main pcre page. - 2. PCRE does not allow repeat quantifiers on lookahead assertions. Perl - permits them, but they do not mean what you might think. For example, - (?!a){3} does not assert that the next three characters are not "a". It - just asserts that the next character is not "a" three times. + 2. PCRE allows repeat quantifiers only on parenthesized assertions, but + they do not mean what you might think. For example, (?!a){3} does not + assert that the next three characters are not "a". It just asserts that + the next character is not "a" three times (in principle: PCRE optimizes + this to run the assertion just once). Perl allows repeat quantifiers on + other assertions such as \b, but these do not seem to have any use. 3. Capturing subpatterns that occur inside negative lookahead asser- tions are counted, but their entries in the offsets vector are never @@ -3096,9 +3222,11 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL the pattern to represent a binary zero. 5. The following Perl escape sequences are not supported: \l, \u, \L, - \U, and \N. In fact these are implemented by Perl's general string-han- - dling and are not part of its pattern matching engine. If any of these - are encountered by PCRE, an error is generated. + \U, and \N when followed by a character name or Unicode value. (\N on + its own, matching a non-newline character, is supported.) In fact these + are implemented by Perl's general string-handling and are not part of + its pattern matching engine. If any of these are encountered by PCRE, + an error is generated. 6. The Perl escape sequences \p, \P, and \X are supported only if PCRE is built with Unicode character property support. The properties that @@ -3110,10 +3238,15 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL tion of Unicode characters, there is no need to implement the somewhat messy concept of surrogates." - 7. PCRE does support the \Q...\E escape for quoting substrings. Charac- - ters in between are treated as literals. This is slightly different - from Perl in that $ and @ are also handled as literals inside the - quotes. In Perl, they cause variable interpolation (but of course PCRE + 7. PCRE implements a simpler version of \X than Perl, which changed to + make \X match what Unicode calls an "extended grapheme cluster". This + is more complicated than an extended Unicode sequence, which is what + PCRE matches. + + 8. PCRE does support the \Q...\E escape for quoting substrings. Charac- + ters in between are treated as literals. This is slightly different + from Perl in that $ and @ are also handled as literals inside the + quotes. In Perl, they cause variable interpolation (but of course PCRE does not have variables). Note the following examples: Pattern PCRE matches Perl matches @@ -3123,58 +3256,60 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL \Qabc\$xyz\E abc\$xyz abc\$xyz \Qabc\E\$\Qxyz\E abc$xyz abc$xyz - The \Q...\E sequence is recognized both inside and outside character + The \Q...\E sequence is recognized both inside and outside character classes. - 8. Fairly obviously, PCRE does not support the (?{code}) and (??{code}) - constructions. However, there is support for recursive patterns. This - is not available in Perl 5.8, but it is in Perl 5.10. Also, the PCRE - "callout" feature allows an external function to be called during pat- + 9. Fairly obviously, PCRE does not support the (?{code}) and (??{code}) + constructions. However, there is support for recursive patterns. This + is not available in Perl 5.8, but it is in Perl 5.10. Also, the PCRE + "callout" feature allows an external function to be called during pat- tern matching. See the pcrecallout documentation for details. - 9. Subpatterns that are called recursively or as "subroutines" are - always treated as atomic groups in PCRE. This is like Python, but - unlike Perl. There is a discussion of an example that explains this in - more detail in the section on recursion differences from Perl in the + 10. Subpatterns that are called recursively or as "subroutines" are + always treated as atomic groups in PCRE. This is like Python, but + unlike Perl. There is a discussion of an example that explains this in + more detail in the section on recursion differences from Perl in the pcrepattern page. - 10. There are some differences that are concerned with the settings of - captured strings when part of a pattern is repeated. For example, - matching "aba" against the pattern /^(a(b)?)+$/ in Perl leaves $2 + 11. There are some differences that are concerned with the settings of + captured strings when part of a pattern is repeated. For example, + matching "aba" against the pattern /^(a(b)?)+$/ in Perl leaves $2 unset, but in PCRE it is set to "b". - 11. PCRE's handling of duplicate subpattern numbers and duplicate sub- + 12. PCRE's handling of duplicate subpattern numbers and duplicate sub- pattern names is not as general as Perl's. This is a consequence of the fact the PCRE works internally just with numbers, using an external ta- - ble to translate between numbers and names. In particular, a pattern - such as (?|(?<a>A)|(?<b)B), where the two capturing parentheses have - the same number but different names, is not supported, and causes an - error at compile time. If it were allowed, it would not be possible to - distinguish which parentheses matched, because both names map to cap- + ble to translate between numbers and names. In particular, a pattern + such as (?|(?<a>A)|(?<b)B), where the two capturing parentheses have + the same number but different names, is not supported, and causes an + error at compile time. If it were allowed, it would not be possible to + distinguish which parentheses matched, because both names map to cap- turing subpattern number 1. To avoid this confusing situation, an error is given at compile time. - 12. Perl recognizes comments in some places that PCRE doesn't, for - example, between the ( and ? at the start of a subpattern. + 13. Perl recognizes comments in some places that PCRE does not, for + example, between the ( and ? at the start of a subpattern. If the /x + modifier is set, Perl allows whitespace between ( and ? but PCRE never + does, even if the PCRE_EXTENDED option is set. - 13. PCRE provides some extensions to the Perl regular expression facil- - ities. Perl 5.10 includes new features that are not in earlier ver- - sions of Perl, some of which (such as named parentheses) have been in + 14. PCRE provides some extensions to the Perl regular expression facil- + ities. Perl 5.10 includes new features that are not in earlier ver- + sions of Perl, some of which (such as named parentheses) have been in PCRE for some time. This list is with respect to Perl 5.10: - (a) Although lookbehind assertions in PCRE must match fixed length - strings, each alternative branch of a lookbehind assertion can match a - different length of string. Perl requires them all to have the same + (a) Although lookbehind assertions in PCRE must match fixed length + strings, each alternative branch of a lookbehind assertion can match a + different length of string. Perl requires them all to have the same length. - (b) If PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set and PCRE_MULTILINE is not set, the $ + (b) If PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set and PCRE_MULTILINE is not set, the $ meta-character matches only at the very end of the string. (c) If PCRE_EXTRA is set, a backslash followed by a letter with no spe- cial meaning is faulted. Otherwise, like Perl, the backslash is quietly ignored. (Perl can be made to issue a warning.) - (d) If PCRE_UNGREEDY is set, the greediness of the repetition quanti- + (d) If PCRE_UNGREEDY is set, the greediness of the repetition quanti- fiers is inverted, that is, by default they are not greedy, but if fol- lowed by a question mark they are. @@ -3182,10 +3317,10 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL tried only at the first matching position in the subject string. (f) The PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, - and PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE options for pcre_exec() have no Perl equiva- + and PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE options for pcre_exec() have no Perl equiva- lents. - (g) The \R escape sequence can be restricted to match only CR, LF, or + (g) The \R escape sequence can be restricted to match only CR, LF, or CRLF by the PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF option. (h) The callout facility is PCRE-specific. @@ -3195,10 +3330,10 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL (j) Patterns compiled by PCRE can be saved and re-used at a later time, even on different hosts that have the other endianness. - (k) The alternative matching function (pcre_dfa_exec()) matches in a + (k) The alternative matching function (pcre_dfa_exec()) matches in a different way and is not Perl-compatible. - (l) PCRE recognizes some special sequences such as (*CR) at the start + (l) PCRE recognizes some special sequences such as (*CR) at the start of a pattern that set overall options that cannot be changed within the pattern. @@ -3212,8 +3347,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 31 October 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 24 July 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -3415,7 +3550,11 @@ BACKSLASH \Qabc\E\$\Qxyz\E abc$xyz abc$xyz The \Q...\E sequence is recognized both inside and outside character - classes. An isolated \E that is not preceded by \Q is ignored. + classes. An isolated \E that is not preceded by \Q is ignored. If \Q + is not followed by \E later in the pattern, the literal interpretation + continues to the end of the pattern (that is, \E is assumed at the + end). If the isolated \Q is inside a character class, this causes an + error, because the character class is not terminated. Non-printing characters @@ -3808,6 +3947,10 @@ BACKSLASH None of them have codepoints less than 256, so in non-UTF-8 mode \X matches any one character. + Note that recent versions of Perl have changed \X to match what Unicode + calls an "extended grapheme cluster", which has a more complicated def- + inition. + Matching characters by Unicode property is not fast, because PCRE has to search a structure that contains data for over fifteen thousand characters. That is why the traditional escape sequences such as \d and @@ -4431,7 +4574,7 @@ REPETITION an escape such as \d or \pL that matches a single character a character class a back reference (see next section) - a parenthesized subpattern (unless it is an assertion) + a parenthesized subpattern (including assertions) a recursive or "subroutine" call to a subpattern The general repetition quantifier specifies a minimum and maximum num- @@ -4807,13 +4950,29 @@ ASSERTIONS matched in the normal way, except that it does not cause the current matching position to be changed. - Assertion subpatterns are not capturing subpatterns, and may not be - repeated, because it makes no sense to assert the same thing several - times. If any kind of assertion contains capturing subpatterns within - it, these are counted for the purposes of numbering the capturing sub- - patterns in the whole pattern. However, substring capturing is carried - out only for positive assertions, because it does not make sense for - negative assertions. + Assertion subpatterns are not capturing subpatterns. If such an asser- + tion contains capturing subpatterns within it, these are counted for + the purposes of numbering the capturing subpatterns in the whole pat- + tern. However, substring capturing is carried out only for positive + assertions, because it does not make sense for negative assertions. + + For compatibility with Perl, assertion subpatterns may be repeated; + though it makes no sense to assert the same thing several times, the + side effect of capturing parentheses may occasionally be useful. In + practice, there only three cases: + + (1) If the quantifier is {0}, the assertion is never obeyed during + matching. However, it may contain internal capturing parenthesized + groups that are called from elsewhere via the subroutine mechanism. + + (2) If quantifier is {0,n} where n is greater than zero, it is treated + as if it were {0,1}. At run time, the rest of the pattern match is + tried with and without the assertion, the order depending on the greed- + iness of the quantifier. + + (3) If the minimum repetition is greater than zero, the quantifier is + ignored. The assertion is obeyed just once when encountered during + matching. Lookahead assertions @@ -5433,7 +5592,9 @@ BACKTRACKING CONTROL If any of these verbs are used in an assertion or subroutine subpattern (including recursive subpatterns), their effect is confined to that - subpattern; it does not extend to the surrounding pattern. Note that + subpattern; it does not extend to the surrounding pattern, with one + exception: a *MARK that is encountered in a positive assertion is + passed back (compare capturing parentheses in assertions). Note that such subpatterns are processed as anchored at the point where they are tested. @@ -5519,6 +5680,10 @@ BACKTRACKING CONTROL efficient way of obtaining this information than putting each alterna- tive in its own capturing parentheses. + If (*MARK) is encountered in a positive assertion, its name is recorded + and passed back if it is the last-encountered. This does not happen for + negative assetions. + A name may also be returned after a failed match if the final path through the pattern involves (*MARK). However, unless (*MARK) used in conjunction with (*COMMIT), this is unlikely to happen for an unan- @@ -5691,8 +5856,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 21 November 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 24 July 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -7255,7 +7420,7 @@ PASSING MODIFIERS TO THE REGULAR EXPRESSION ENGINE RE_Options object, set the appropriate options, and pass this object to a RE constructor. Example: - RE_options opt; + RE_Options opt; opt.set_caseless(true); if (RE("HELLO", opt).PartialMatch("hello world")) ... @@ -7380,6 +7545,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION Last updated: 17 March 2009 + Minor typo fixed: 25 July 2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -7482,7 +7648,9 @@ PCRE DISCUSSION OF STACK USAGE in order to remember the state of the match so that it can back up and try a different alternative if the first one fails. As matching pro- ceeds deeper and deeper into the tree of possibilities, the recursion - depth increases. + depth increases. The match() function is also called in other circum- + stances, for example, whenever a parenthesized sub-pattern is entered, + and in certain cases of repetition. Not all calls of match() increase the recursion depth; for an item such as a* it may be called several times at the same level, after matching @@ -7614,8 +7782,8 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 03 January 2010 - Copyright (c) 1997-2010 University of Cambridge. + Last updated: 22 July 2011 + Copyright (c) 1997-2011 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |