[PATCH] [@20616] perlreref.pod incorrectly describes \c

From: merlyn@stonehenge.com (Randal L. Schwartz)
Date: 11 Aug 2003 09:45:29 -0700
Message-ID: <86isp4kus6.fsf@blue.stonehenge.com>

Subject: [PATCH] perlreref.pod tweaks
From: Ronald J Kimball <rjk@linguist.Thayer.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 13:19:51 -0400
Message-ID: <20030811171951.GA332851@linguist.thayer.dartmouth.edu>

Plus a note about {,n} not being a quantifier.

p4raw-id: //depot/perl@20620

1 files changed, 32 insertions, 24 deletions

diff --git a/pod/perlreref.pod b/pod/perlreref.pod
index 08cd22748b..9f083c7e86 100644
--- a/pod/perlreref.pod
+++ b/pod/perlreref.pod
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ perlreref - Perl Regular Expressions Reference
 
 This is a quick reference to Perl's regular expressions.
 For full information see L<perlre> and L<perlop>, as well
-as the L<references|/"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
+as the L</"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
 
 =head1 OPERATORS
 
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ as the L<references|/"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
 
         $var =~ /foo/;
 
+  !~ determines to which variable the regex is applied,
+     and negates the result of the match; it returns
+     false if the match succeeds, and true if it fails.
+
+       $var !~ /foo/;
+
   m/pattern/igmsoxc searches a string for a pattern match,
      applying the given options.
 
@@ -24,9 +30,9 @@ as the L<references|/"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
         s  match as a Single line - . matches \n
         o  compile pattern Once
         x  eXtended legibility - free whitespace and comments
-        c  don't reset pos on fails when using /g
+        c  don't reset pos on failed matches when using /g
 
-     If 'pattern' is an empty string, the last I<successfully> match
+     If 'pattern' is an empty string, the last I<successfully> matched
      regex is used. Delimiters other than '/' may be used for both this
      operator and the following ones.
 
@@ -44,11 +50,11 @@ as the L<references|/"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
      as a double quoted string unless a single-quote (') is the delimiter.
 
   ?pattern? is like m/pattern/ but matches only once. No alternate
-     delimiters can be used. Must be reset with 'reset'.
+      delimiters can be used. Must be reset with L<reset|perlfunc/reset>.
 
 =head1 SYNTAX
 
-   \       Escapes the character(s) immediately following it
+   \       Escapes the character immediately following it
    .       Matches any single character except a newline (unless /s is used)
    ^       Matches at the beginning of the string (or line, if /m is used)
    $       Matches at the end of the string (or line, if /m is used)
@@ -59,7 +65,7 @@ as the L<references|/"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
    [...]   Matches any one of the characters contained within the brackets
    (...)   Groups subexpressions for capturing to $1, $2...
    (?:...) Groups subexpressions without capturing (cluster)
-   |       Matches either the expression preceding or following it
+   |       Matches either the subexpression preceding or following it
    \1, \2 ...  The text from the Nth group
 
 =head2 ESCAPE SEQUENCES
@@ -78,8 +84,8 @@ These work as in normal strings.
    \cx      Control-x
    \N{name} A named character
 
-   \l  Lowercase until next character
-   \u  Uppercase until next character
+   \l  Lowercase next character
+   \u  Uppercase next character
    \L  Lowercase until \E
    \U  Uppercase until \E
    \Q  Disable pattern metacharacters until \E
@@ -94,17 +100,17 @@ This one works differently from normal strings:
    [amy]    Match 'a', 'm' or 'y'
    [f-j]    Dash specifies "range"
    [f-j-]   Dash escaped or at start or end means 'dash'
-   [^f-j]   Caret indicates "match char any _except_ these"
+   [^f-j]   Caret indicates "match any character _except_ these"
 
 The following work within or without a character class:
 
    \d      A digit, same as [0-9]
    \D      A nondigit, same as [^0-9]
-   \w      A word character (alphanumeric), same as [a-zA-Z_0-9]
-   \W      A non-word character, [^a-zA-Z_0-9]
+   \w      A word character (alphanumeric), same as [a-zA-Z0-9_]
+   \W      A non-word character, [^a-zA-Z0-9_]
    \s      A whitespace character, same as [ \t\n\r\f]
    \S      A non-whitespace character, [^ \t\n\r\f]
-   \C      Match a byte (with Unicode. '.' matches char)
+   \C      Match a byte (with Unicode, '.' matches char)
    \pP     Match P-named (Unicode) property
    \p{...} Match Unicode property with long name
    \PP     Match non-P
@@ -142,34 +148,34 @@ All are zero-width assertions.
    ^  Match string start (or line, if /m is used)
    $  Match string end (or line, if /m is used) or before newline
    \b Match word boundary (between \w and \W)
-   \B Match except at word boundary
+   \B Match except at word boundary (between \w and \w or \W and \W)
    \A Match string start (regardless of /m)
-   \Z Match string end (preceding optional newline)
+   \Z Match string end (before optional newline)
    \z Match absolute string end
    \G Match where previous m//g left off
-   \c Suppresses resetting of search position when used with /g.
-      Without \c, search pattern is reset to the beginning of the string
 
 =head2 QUANTIFIERS
 
-Quantifiers are greedy by default --- match the B<longest> leftmost.
+Quantifiers are greedy by default -- match the B<longest> leftmost.
 
    Maximal Minimal Allowed range
    ------- ------- -------------
    {n,m}   {n,m}?  Must occur at least n times but no more than m times
    {n,}    {n,}?   Must occur at least n times
-   {n}     {n}?    Must match exactly n times
+   {n}     {n}?    Must occur exactly n times
    *       *?      0 or more times (same as {0,})
    +       +?      1 or more times (same as {1,})
    ?       ??      0 or 1 time (same as {0,1})
 
+There is no quantifier {,n} -- that gets understood as a literal string.
+
 =head2 EXTENDED CONSTRUCTS
 
    (?#text)         A comment
-   (?imxs-imsx:...) Enable/disable option (as per m//)
+   (?imxs-imsx:...) Enable/disable option (as per m// modifiers)
    (?=...)          Zero-width positive lookahead assertion
    (?!...)          Zero-width negative lookahead assertion
-   (?<...)          Zero-width positive lookbehind assertion
+   (?<=...)         Zero-width positive lookbehind assertion
    (?<!...)         Zero-width negative lookbehind assertion
    (?>...)          Grab what we can, prohibit backtracking
    (?{ code })      Embedded code, return value becomes $^R
@@ -195,17 +201,17 @@ See also L<Devel::SawAmpersand>.
    $+    Last parenthesized pattern match
    $^N   Holds the most recently closed capture
    $^R   Holds the result of the last (?{...}) expr
-   @-    Offsets of starts of groups. [0] holds start of whole match
-   @+    Offsets of ends of groups. [0] holds end of whole match
+   @-    Offsets of starts of groups. $-[0] holds start of whole match
+   @+    Offsets of ends of groups. $+[0] holds end of whole match
 
-Capture groups are numbered according to their I<opening> paren.
+Captured groups are numbered according to their I<opening> paren.
 
 =head1 FUNCTIONS
 
    lc          Lowercase a string
    lcfirst     Lowercase first char of a string
    uc          Uppercase a string
-   ucfirst     Titlecase first char of a string
+   ucfirst     Uppercase first char of a string
    pos         Return or set current match position
    quotemeta   Quote metacharacters
    reset       Reset ?pattern? status
@@ -283,3 +289,5 @@ Jim Cromie,
 and
 Jeffrey Goff
 for useful advice.
+
+=cut