.TH PCRE 3
.SH NAME
PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
.SH SYNOPSIS
.rs
.sp
.B #include <pcre.h>
.PP
.SM
.br
.B int pcre_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
.ti +5n
.B "const char *\fIsubject\fP," int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,
.ti +5n
.B int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP);
.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.rs
.sp
This function matches a compiled regular expression against a given subject
string, using a matching algorithm that is similar to Perl's. It returns
offsets to captured substrings. Its arguments are:
.sp
  \fIcode\fP         Points to the compiled pattern
  \fIextra\fP        Points to an associated \fBpcre_extra\fP structure,
                 or is NULL
  \fIsubject\fP      Points to the subject string
  \fIlength\fP       Length of the subject string, in bytes
  \fIstartoffset\fP  Offset in bytes in the subject at which to
                 start matching
  \fIoptions\fP      Option bits
  \fIovector\fP      Points to a vector of ints for result offsets
  \fIovecsize\fP     Number of elements in the vector (a multiple of 3)
.sp
The options are:
.sp
  PCRE_ANCHORED      Match only at the first position
  PCRE_NOTBOL        Subject is not the beginning of a line
  PCRE_NOTEOL        Subject is not the end of a line
  PCRE_NOTEMPTY      An empty string is not a valid match
  PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK Do not check the subject for UTF-8
                       validity (only relevant if PCRE_UTF8
                       was set at compile time)
  PCRE_PARTIAL       Return PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match
.sp
There are restrictions on what may appear in a pattern when partial matching is
requested.
.P
A \fBpcre_extra\fP structure contains the following fields:
.sp
  \fIflags\fP        Bits indicating which fields are set
  \fIstudy_data\fP   Opaque data from \fBpcre_study()\fP
  \fImatch_limit\fP  Limit on internal recursion
  \fIcallout_data\fP Opaque data passed back to callouts
  \fItables\fP       Points to character tables or is NULL
.sp
The flag bits are PCRE_EXTRA_STUDY_DATA, PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT,
PCRE_EXTRA_CALLOUT_DATA, and PCRE_EXTRA_TABLES.
.P
There is a complete description of the PCRE native API in the
.\" HREF
\fBpcreapi\fP
.\"
page and a description of the POSIX API in the
.\" HREF
\fBpcreposix\fP
.\"
page.