This is Info file regex.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.52 from the input
file .././doc/regex.texi.
This file documents the GNU regular expression library.
Copyright (C) 1992, 1993 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
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section entitled "GNU General Public License" is included exactly as in
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Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
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may be included in a translation approved by the Free Software
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File: regex.info, Node: Top, Next: Overview, Prev: (dir), Up: (dir)
Regular Expression Library
**************************
This manual documents how to program with the GNU regular expression
library. This is edition 0.12a of the manual, 19 September 1992.
The first part of this master menu lists the major nodes in this Info
document, including the index. The rest of the menu lists all the
lower level nodes in the document.
* Regular Expression Syntax::
* Programming with Regex::
* Copying:: Copying and sharing Regex.
-- The Detailed Node Listing --
Regular Expression Syntax
* Collating Elements vs. Characters::
* The Backslash Character::
* Match-self Operator:: Ordinary characters.
* Match-any-character Operator:: .
* Concatenation Operator:: Juxtaposition.
* Repetition Operators:: * + ? {}
* Alternation Operator:: |
* List Operators:: [...] [^...]
* Grouping Operators:: (...)
* Back-reference Operator:: \digit
* Anchoring Operators:: ^ $
* Match-zero-or-more Operator:: *
* Match-one-or-more Operator:: +
* Match-zero-or-one Operator:: ?
* Interval Operators:: {}
List Operators (`[' ... `]' and `[^' ... `]')
* Character Class Operators:: [:class:]
* Range Operator:: start-end
* Match-beginning-of-line Operator:: ^
* Match-end-of-line Operator:: $
* Non-Emacs Syntax Tables::
* Match-word-boundary Operator:: \b
* Match-within-word Operator:: \B
* Match-beginning-of-word Operator:: \<
* Match-end-of-word Operator:: \>
* Match-word-constituent Operator:: \w
* Match-non-word-constituent Operator:: \W
* Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator:: \`
* Match-end-of-buffer Operator:: \'
* Syntactic Class Operators::
Syntactic Class Operators
* Match-syntactic-class Operator:: \sCLASS
* Match-not-syntactic-class Operator:: \SCLASS
* POSIX Regex Functions::
* GNU Pattern Buffers:: The re_pattern_buffer type.
* GNU Regular Expression Compiling:: re_compile_pattern ()
* GNU Matching:: re_match ()
* GNU Searching:: re_search ()
* Matching/Searching with Split Data:: re_match_2 (), re_search_2 ()
* Searching with Fastmaps:: re_compile_fastmap ()
* GNU Translate Tables:: The `translate' field.
* Using Registers:: The re_registers type and related fns.
* Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers:: regfree ()
* POSIX Pattern Buffers:: The regex_t type.
* POSIX Regular Expression Compiling:: regcomp ()
* POSIX Matching:: regexec ()
* Reporting Errors:: regerror ()
* Using Byte Offsets:: The regmatch_t type.
* Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers:: regfree ()
* BSD Regular Expression Compiling:: re_comp ()
* BSD Searching:: re_exec ()
File: regex.info, Node: Overview, Next: Regular Expression Syntax, Prev: Top, Up: Top
A "regular expression" (or "regexp", or "pattern") is a text string
that describes some (mathematical) set of strings. A regexp R
"matches" a string S if S is in the set of strings described by R.
Using the Regex library, you can:
* see if a string matches a specified pattern as a whole, and
* search within a string for a substring matching a specified
Some regular expressions match only one string, i.e., the set they
describe has only one member. For example, the regular expression
`foo' matches the string `foo' and no others. Other regular
expressions match more than one string, i.e., the set they describe has
more than one member. For example, the regular expression `f*' matches
the set of strings made up of any number (including zero) of `f's. As
you can see, some characters in regular expressions match themselves
(such as `f') and some don't (such as `*'); the ones that don't match
themselves instead let you specify patterns that describe many
To either match or search for a regular expression with the Regex
library functions, you must first compile it with a Regex pattern
compiling function. A "compiled pattern" is a regular expression
converted to the internal format used by the library functions. Once
you've compiled a pattern, you can use it for matching or searching any
The Regex library consists of two source files: `regex.h' and
`regex.c'. Regex provides three groups of functions with which you can
operate on regular expressions. One group--the GNU group--is more
powerful but not completely compatible with the other two, namely the
POSIX and Berkeley UNIX groups; its interface was designed specifically
for GNU. The other groups have the same interfaces as do the regular
expression functions in POSIX and Berkeley UNIX.
We wrote this chapter with programmers in mind, not users of
programs--such as Emacs--that use Regex. We describe the Regex library
in its entirety, not how to write regular expressions that a particular
File: regex.info, Node: Regular Expression Syntax, Next: Common Operators, Prev: Overview, Up: Top
Regular Expression Syntax
*************************
"Characters" are things you can type. "Operators" are things in a
regular expression that match one or more characters. You compose
regular expressions from operators, which in turn you specify using one
Most characters represent what we call the match-self operator, i.e.,
they match themselves; we call these characters "ordinary". Other
characters represent either all or parts of fancier operators; e.g.,
`.' represents what we call the match-any-character operator (which, no
surprise, matches (almost) any character); we call these characters
"special". Two different things determine what characters represent
1. the regular expression syntax your program has told the Regex
library to recognize, and
2. the context of the character in the regular expression.
In the following sections, we describe these things in more detail.
* Collating Elements vs. Characters::
* The Backslash Character::
File: regex.info, Node: Syntax Bits, Next: Predefined Syntaxes, Up: Regular Expression Syntax
In any particular syntax for regular expressions, some characters are
always special, others are sometimes special, and others are never
special. The particular syntax that Regex recognizes for a given
regular expression depends on the value in the `syntax' field of the
pattern buffer of that regular expression.
You get a pattern buffer by compiling a regular expression. *Note
GNU Pattern Buffers::, and *Note POSIX Pattern Buffers::, for more
information on pattern buffers. *Note GNU Regular Expression
Compiling::, *Note POSIX Regular Expression Compiling::, and *Note BSD
Regular Expression Compiling::, for more information on compiling.
Regex considers the value of the `syntax' field to be a collection of
bits; we refer to these bits as "syntax bits". In most cases, they
affect what characters represent what operators. We describe the
meanings of the operators to which we refer in *Note Common Operators::,
*Note GNU Operators::, and *Note GNU Emacs Operators::.
For reference, here is the complete list of syntax bits, in
`RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS'
If this bit is set, then `\' inside a list (*note List Operators::.
quotes (makes ordinary, if it's special) the following character;
if this bit isn't set, then `\' is an ordinary character inside
lists. (*Note The Backslash Character::, for what `\' does
If this bit is set, then `\+' represents the match-one-or-more
operator and `\?' represents the match-zero-or-more operator; if
this bit isn't set, then `+' represents the match-one-or-more
operator and `?' represents the match-zero-or-one operator. This
bit is irrelevant if `RE_LIMITED_OPS' is set.
If this bit is set, then you can use character classes in lists;
if this bit isn't set, then you can't.
`RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS'
If this bit is set, then `^' and `$' are special anywhere outside
a list; if this bit isn't set, then these characters are special
only in certain contexts. *Note Match-beginning-of-line
Operator::, and *Note Match-end-of-line Operator::.
If this bit is set, then certain characters are special anywhere
outside a list; if this bit isn't set, then those characters are
special only in some contexts and are ordinary elsewhere.
Specifically, if this bit isn't set then `*', and (if the syntax
bit `RE_LIMITED_OPS' isn't set) `+' and `?' (or `\+' and `\?',
depending on the syntax bit `RE_BK_PLUS_QM') represent repetition
operators only if they're not first in a regular expression or
just after an open-group or alternation operator. The same holds
for `{' (or `\{', depending on the syntax bit `RE_NO_BK_BRACES') if
it is the beginning of a valid interval and the syntax bit
If this bit is set, then repetition and alternation operators
can't be in certain positions within a regular expression.
Specifically, the regular expression is invalid if it has:
* a repetition operator first in the regular expression or just
after a match-beginning-of-line, open-group, or alternation
* an alternation operator first or last in the regular
expression, just before a match-end-of-line operator, or just
after an alternation or open-group operator.
If this bit isn't set, then you can put the characters
representing the repetition and alternation characters anywhere in
a regular expression. Whether or not they will in fact be
operators in certain positions depends on other syntax bits.
If this bit is set, then the match-any-character operator matches
a newline; if this bit isn't set, then it doesn't.
If this bit is set, then the match-any-character operator doesn't
match a null character; if this bit isn't set, then it does.
If this bit is set, then Regex recognizes interval operators; if
this bit isn't set, then it doesn't.
If this bit is set, then Regex doesn't recognize the
match-one-or-more, match-zero-or-one or alternation operators; if
this bit isn't set, then it does.
If this bit is set, then newline represents the alternation
operator; if this bit isn't set, then newline is ordinary.
If this bit is set, then `{' represents the open-interval operator
and `}' represents the close-interval operator; if this bit isn't
set, then `\{' represents the open-interval operator and `\}'
represents the close-interval operator. This bit is relevant only
if `RE_INTERVALS' is set.
If this bit is set, then `(' represents the open-group operator and
`)' represents the close-group operator; if this bit isn't set,
then `\(' represents the open-group operator and `\)' represents
the close-group operator.
If this bit is set, then Regex doesn't recognize `\'DIGIT as the
back reference operator; if this bit isn't set, then it does.
If this bit is set, then `|' represents the alternation operator;
if this bit isn't set, then `\|' represents the alternation
operator. This bit is irrelevant if `RE_LIMITED_OPS' is set.
If this bit is set, then a regular expression with a range whose
ending point collates lower than its starting point is invalid; if
this bit isn't set, then Regex considers such a range to be empty.
`RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD'
If this bit is set and the regular expression has no matching
open-group operator, then Regex considers what would otherwise be
a close-group operator (based on how `RE_NO_BK_PARENS' is set) to
File: regex.info, Node: Predefined Syntaxes, Next: Collating Elements vs. Characters, Prev: Syntax Bits, Up: Regular Expression Syntax
If you're programming with Regex, you can set a pattern buffer's
(*note GNU Pattern Buffers::., and *Note POSIX Pattern Buffers::)
`syntax' field either to an arbitrary combination of syntax bits (*note
Syntax Bits::.) or else to the configurations defined by Regex. These
configurations define the syntaxes used by certain programs--GNU Emacs,
POSIX Awk, traditional Awk, Grep, Egrep--in addition to syntaxes for
POSIX basic and extended regular expressions.
The predefined syntaxes-taken directly from `regex.h'--are:
#define RE_SYNTAX_EMACS 0
(RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS | RE_DOT_NOT_NULL \
| RE_NO_BK_PARENS | RE_NO_BK_REFS \
| RE_NO_BK_VBAR | RE_NO_EMPTY_RANGES \
| RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD)
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_AWK \
(RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_EXTENDED | RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS)
(RE_BK_PLUS_QM | RE_CHAR_CLASSES \
| RE_HAT_LISTS_NOT_NEWLINE | RE_INTERVALS \
#define RE_SYNTAX_EGREP \
(RE_CHAR_CLASSES | RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS \
| RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS | RE_HAT_LISTS_NOT_NEWLINE \
| RE_NEWLINE_ALT | RE_NO_BK_PARENS \
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_EGREP \
(RE_SYNTAX_EGREP | RE_INTERVALS | RE_NO_BK_BRACES)
/* P1003.2/D11.2, section 4.20.7.1, lines 5078ff. */
#define RE_SYNTAX_ED RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_BASIC
#define RE_SYNTAX_SED RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_BASIC
/* Syntax bits common to both basic and extended POSIX regex syntax. */
#define _RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_COMMON \
(RE_CHAR_CLASSES | RE_DOT_NEWLINE | RE_DOT_NOT_NULL \
| RE_INTERVALS | RE_NO_EMPTY_RANGES)
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_BASIC \
(_RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_COMMON | RE_BK_PLUS_QM)
/* Differs from ..._POSIX_BASIC only in that RE_BK_PLUS_QM becomes
RE_LIMITED_OPS, i.e., \? \+ \| are not recognized. Actually, this
isn't minimal, since other operators, such as \`, aren't disabled. */
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_MINIMAL_BASIC \
(_RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_COMMON | RE_LIMITED_OPS)
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_EXTENDED \
(_RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_COMMON | RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS \
| RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS | RE_NO_BK_BRACES \
| RE_NO_BK_PARENS | RE_NO_BK_VBAR \
| RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD)
/* Differs from ..._POSIX_EXTENDED in that RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS
replaces RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS and RE_NO_BK_REFS is added. */
#define RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_MINIMAL_EXTENDED \
(_RE_SYNTAX_POSIX_COMMON | RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS \
| RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS | RE_NO_BK_BRACES \
| RE_NO_BK_PARENS | RE_NO_BK_REFS \
| RE_NO_BK_VBAR | RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD)
File: regex.info, Node: Collating Elements vs. Characters, Next: The Backslash Character, Prev: Predefined Syntaxes, Up: Regular Expression Syntax
Collating Elements vs. Characters
=================================
POSIX generalizes the notion of a character to that of a collating
element. It defines a "collating element" to be "a sequence of one or
more bytes defined in the current collating sequence as a unit of
This generalizes the notion of a character in two ways. First, a
single character can map into two or more collating elements. For
example, the German "es-zet" collates as the collating element `s'
followed by another collating element `s'. Second, two or more
characters can map into one collating element. For example, the
Spanish `ll' collates after `l' and before `m'.
Since POSIX's "collating element" preserves the essential idea of a
"character," we use the latter, more familiar, term in this document.
File: regex.info, Node: The Backslash Character, Prev: Collating Elements vs. Characters, Up: Regular Expression Syntax
The `\' character has one of four different meanings, depending on
the context in which you use it and what syntax bits are set (*note
Syntax Bits::.). It can: 1) stand for itself, 2) quote the next
character, 3) introduce an operator, or 4) do nothing.
1. It stands for itself inside a list (*note List Operators::.) if
the syntax bit `RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS' is not set. For
example, `[\]' would match `\'.
2. It quotes (makes ordinary, if it's special) the next character
* inside a list and the syntax bit
`RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS' is set.
3. It introduces an operator when followed by certain ordinary
characters--sometimes only when certain syntax bits are set. See
the cases `RE_BK_PLUS_QM', `RE_NO_BK_BRACES', `RE_NO_BK_VAR',
`RE_NO_BK_PARENS', `RE_NO_BK_REF' in *Note Syntax Bits::. Also:
* `\b' represents the match-word-boundary operator (*note
Match-word-boundary Operator::.).
* `\B' represents the match-within-word operator (*note
Match-within-word Operator::.).
* `\<' represents the match-beginning-of-word operator
(*note Match-beginning-of-word Operator::.).
* `\>' represents the match-end-of-word operator (*note
Match-end-of-word Operator::.).
* `\w' represents the match-word-constituent operator (*note
Match-word-constituent Operator::.).
* `\W' represents the match-non-word-constituent operator
(*note Match-non-word-constituent Operator::.).
* `\`' represents the match-beginning-of-buffer operator and
`\'' represents the match-end-of-buffer operator (*note
* If Regex was compiled with the C preprocessor symbol `emacs'
defined, then `\sCLASS' represents the match-syntactic-class
operator and `\SCLASS' represents the
match-not-syntactic-class operator (*note Syntactic Class
4. In all other cases, Regex ignores `\'. For example, `\n' matches
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Sometimes you don't have to explicitly quote special characters
to make them ordinary. For instance, most characters lose any special
meaning inside a list (*note List Operators::.). In addition, if the
syntax bits `RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS' and `RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS' aren't
set, then (for historical reasons) the matcher considers special
characters ordinary if they are in contexts where the operations they
represent make no sense; for example, then the match-zero-or-more
operator (represented by `*') matches itself in the regular expression
`*foo' because there is no preceding expression on which it can
operate. It is poor practice, however, to depend on this behavior; if
you want a special character to be ordinary outside a list, it's better
to always quote it, regardless.
File: regex.info, Node: Common Operators, Next: GNU Operators, Prev: Regular Expression Syntax, Up: Top
You compose regular expressions from operators. In the following
sections, we describe the regular expression operators specified by
POSIX; GNU also uses these. Most operators have more than one
representation as characters. *Note Regular Expression Syntax::, for
what characters represent what operators under what circumstances.
For most operators that can be represented in two ways, one
representation is a single character and the other is that character
preceded by `\'. For example, either `(' or `\(' represents the
open-group operator. Which one does depends on the setting of a syntax
bit, in this case `RE_NO_BK_PARENS'. Why is this so? Historical
reasons dictate some of the varying representations, while POSIX
Finally, almost all characters lose any special meaning inside a list
(*note List Operators::.).
* Match-self Operator:: Ordinary characters.
* Match-any-character Operator:: .
* Concatenation Operator:: Juxtaposition.
* Repetition Operators:: * + ? {}
* Alternation Operator:: |
* List Operators:: [...] [^...]
* Grouping Operators:: (...)
* Back-reference Operator:: \digit
* Anchoring Operators:: ^ $
File: regex.info, Node: Match-self Operator, Next: Match-any-character Operator, Up: Common Operators
The Match-self Operator (ORDINARY CHARACTER)
============================================
This operator matches the character itself. All ordinary characters
(*note Regular Expression Syntax::.) represent this operator. For
example, `f' is always an ordinary character, so the regular expression
`f' matches only the string `f'. In particular, it does *not* match
File: regex.info, Node: Match-any-character Operator, Next: Concatenation Operator, Prev: Match-self Operator, Up: Common Operators
The Match-any-character Operator (`.')
======================================
This operator matches any single printing or nonprinting character
if the syntax bit `RE_DOT_NEWLINE' isn't set.
if the syntax bit `RE_DOT_NOT_NULL' is set.
The `.' (period) character represents this operator. For example,
`a.b' matches any three-character string beginning with `a' and ending
File: regex.info, Node: Concatenation Operator, Next: Repetition Operators, Prev: Match-any-character Operator, Up: Common Operators
The Concatenation Operator
==========================
This operator concatenates two regular expressions A and B. No
character represents this operator; you simply put B after A. The
result is a regular expression that will match a string if A matches
its first part and B matches the rest. For example, `xy' (two
match-self operators) matches `xy'.
File: regex.info, Node: Repetition Operators, Next: Alternation Operator, Prev: Concatenation Operator, Up: Common Operators
Repetition operators repeat the preceding regular expression a
specified number of times.
* Match-zero-or-more Operator:: *
* Match-one-or-more Operator:: +
* Match-zero-or-one Operator:: ?
* Interval Operators:: {}
File: regex.info, Node: Match-zero-or-more Operator, Next: Match-one-or-more Operator, Up: Repetition Operators
The Match-zero-or-more Operator (`*')
-------------------------------------
This operator repeats the smallest possible preceding regular
expression as many times as necessary (including zero) to match the
pattern. `*' represents this operator. For example, `o*' matches any
string made up of zero or more `o's. Since this operator operates on
the smallest preceding regular expression, `fo*' has a repeating `o',
not a repeating `fo'. So, `fo*' matches `f', `fo', `foo', and so on.
Since the match-zero-or-more operator is a suffix operator, it may be
useless as such when no regular expression precedes it. This is the
* is first in a regular expression, or
* follows a match-beginning-of-line, open-group, or alternation
Three different things can happen in these cases:
1. If the syntax bit `RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS' is set, then the
regular expression is invalid.
2. If `RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS' isn't set, but `RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS'
is, then `*' represents the match-zero-or-more operator (which
then operates on the empty string).
3. Otherwise, `*' is ordinary.
The matcher processes a match-zero-or-more operator by first matching
as many repetitions of the smallest preceding regular expression as it
can. Then it continues to match the rest of the pattern.
If it can't match the rest of the pattern, it backtracks (as many
times as necessary), each time discarding one of the matches until it
can either match the entire pattern or be certain that it cannot get a
match. For example, when matching `ca*ar' against `caaar', the matcher
first matches all three `a's of the string with the `a*' of the regular
expression. However, it cannot then match the final `ar' of the
regular expression against the final `r' of the string. So it
backtracks, discarding the match of the last `a' in the string. It can
then match the remaining `ar'.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-one-or-more Operator, Next: Match-zero-or-one Operator, Prev: Match-zero-or-more Operator, Up: Repetition Operators
The Match-one-or-more Operator (`+' or `\+')
--------------------------------------------
If the syntax bit `RE_LIMITED_OPS' is set, then Regex doesn't
recognize this operator. Otherwise, if the syntax bit `RE_BK_PLUS_QM'
isn't set, then `+' represents this operator; if it is, then `\+' does.
This operator is similar to the match-zero-or-more operator except
that it repeats the preceding regular expression at least once; *note
Match-zero-or-more Operator::., for what it operates on, how some
syntax bits affect it, and how Regex backtracks to match it.
For example, supposing that `+' represents the match-one-or-more
operator; then `ca+r' matches, e.g., `car' and `caaaar', but not `cr'.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-zero-or-one Operator, Next: Interval Operators, Prev: Match-one-or-more Operator, Up: Repetition Operators
The Match-zero-or-one Operator (`?' or `\?')
--------------------------------------------
If the syntax bit `RE_LIMITED_OPS' is set, then Regex doesn't
recognize this operator. Otherwise, if the syntax bit `RE_BK_PLUS_QM'
isn't set, then `?' represents this operator; if it is, then `\?' does.
This operator is similar to the match-zero-or-more operator except
that it repeats the preceding regular expression once or not at all;
*note Match-zero-or-more Operator::., to see what it operates on, how
some syntax bits affect it, and how Regex backtracks to match it.
For example, supposing that `?' represents the match-zero-or-one
operator; then `ca?r' matches both `car' and `cr', but nothing else.
File: regex.info, Node: Interval Operators, Prev: Match-zero-or-one Operator, Up: Repetition Operators
Interval Operators (`{' ... `}' or `\{' ... `\}')
-------------------------------------------------
If the syntax bit `RE_INTERVALS' is set, then Regex recognizes
"interval expressions". They repeat the smallest possible preceding
regular expression a specified number of times.
If the syntax bit `RE_NO_BK_BRACES' is set, `{' represents the
"open-interval operator" and `}' represents the "close-interval
operator" ; otherwise, `\{' and `\}' do.
Specifically, supposing that `{' and `}' represent the open-interval
and close-interval operators; then:
matches exactly COUNT occurrences of the preceding regular
matches MIN or more occurrences of the preceding regular
matches at least MIN but no more than MAX occurrences of the
preceding regular expression.
The interval expression (but not necessarily the regular expression
that contains it) is invalid if:
* MIN is greater than MAX, or
* any of COUNT, MIN, or MAX are outside the range zero to
`RE_DUP_MAX' (which symbol `regex.h' defines).
If the interval expression is invalid and the syntax bit
`RE_NO_BK_BRACES' is set, then Regex considers all the characters in
the would-be interval to be ordinary. If that bit isn't set, then the
regular expression is invalid.
If the interval expression is valid but there is no preceding regular
expression on which to operate, then if the syntax bit
`RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS' is set, the regular expression is invalid. If
that bit isn't set, then Regex considers all the characters--other than
backslashes, which it ignores--in the would-be interval to be ordinary.
File: regex.info, Node: Alternation Operator, Next: List Operators, Prev: Repetition Operators, Up: Common Operators
The Alternation Operator (`|' or `\|')
======================================
If the syntax bit `RE_LIMITED_OPS' is set, then Regex doesn't
recognize this operator. Otherwise, if the syntax bit `RE_NO_BK_VBAR'
is set, then `|' represents this operator; otherwise, `\|' does.
Alternatives match one of a choice of regular expressions: if you put
the character(s) representing the alternation operator between any two
regular expressions A and B, the result matches the union of the
strings that A and B match. For example, supposing that `|' is the
alternation operator, then `foo|bar|quux' would match any of `foo',
The alternation operator operates on the *largest* possible
surrounding regular expressions. (Put another way, it has the lowest
precedence of any regular expression operator.) Thus, the only way you
can delimit its arguments is to use grouping. For example, if `(' and
`)' are the open and close-group operators, then `fo(o|b)ar' would
match either `fooar' or `fobar'. (`foo|bar' would match `foo' or
The matcher usually tries all combinations of alternatives so as to
match the longest possible string. For example, when matching
`(fooq|foo)*(qbarquux|bar)' against `fooqbarquux', it cannot take, say,
the first ("depth-first") combination it could match, since then it
would be content to match just `fooqbar'.
File: regex.info, Node: List Operators, Next: Grouping Operators, Prev: Alternation Operator, Up: Common Operators
List Operators (`[' ... `]' and `[^' ... `]')
=============================================
"Lists", also called "bracket expressions", are a set of one or more
items. An "item" is a character, a character class expression, or a
range expression. The syntax bits affect which kinds of items you can
put in a list. We explain the last two items in subsections below.
A "matching list" matches a single character represented by one of
the list items. You form a matching list by enclosing one or more items
within an "open-matching-list operator" (represented by `[') and a
"close-list operator" (represented by `]').
For example, `[ab]' matches either `a' or `b'. `[ad]*' matches the
empty string and any string composed of just `a's and `d's in any
order. Regex considers invalid a regular expression with a `[' but no
"Nonmatching lists" are similar to matching lists except that they
match a single character *not* represented by one of the list items.
You use an "open-nonmatching-list operator" (represented by `[^'(1))
instead of an open-matching-list operator to start a nonmatching list.
For example, `[^ab]' matches any character except `a' or `b'.
If the `posix_newline' field in the pattern buffer (*note GNU Pattern
Buffers::. is set, then nonmatching lists do not match a newline.
Most characters lose any special meaning inside a list. The special
characters inside a list follow.
ends the list if it's not the first list item. So, if you want to
make the `]' character a list item, you must put it first.
quotes the next character if the syntax bit
`RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LISTS' is set.
represents the open-character-class operator (*note Character
Class Operators::.) if the syntax bit `RE_CHAR_CLASSES' is set and
what follows is a valid character class expression.
represents the close-character-class operator if the syntax bit
`RE_CHAR_CLASSES' is set and what precedes it is an
open-character-class operator followed by a valid character class
represents the range operator (*note Range Operator::.) if it's
not first or last in a list or the ending point of a range.
All other characters are ordinary. For example, `[.*]' matches `.' and
* Character Class Operators:: [:class:]
* Range Operator:: start-end
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Regex therefore doesn't consider the `^' to be the first
character in the list. If you put a `^' character first in (what you
think is) a matching list, you'll turn it into a nonmatching list.
File: regex.info, Node: Character Class Operators, Next: Range Operator, Up: List Operators
Character Class Operators (`[:' ... `:]')
-----------------------------------------
If the syntax bit `RE_CHARACTER_CLASSES' is set, then Regex
recognizes character class expressions inside lists. A "character
class expression" matches one character from a given class. You form a
character class expression by putting a character class name between an
"open-character-class operator" (represented by `[:') and a
"close-character-class operator" (represented by `:]'). The character
class names and their meanings are:
system-dependent; for GNU, a space or tab
control characters (in the ASCII encoding, code 0177 and codes
same as `print' except omits space
printable characters (in the ASCII encoding, space tilde--codes
neither control nor alphanumeric characters
space, carriage return, newline, vertical tab, and form feed
hexadecimal digits: `0'-`9', `a'-`f', `A'-`F'
These correspond to the definitions in the C library's `<ctype.h>'
facility. For example, `[:alpha:]' corresponds to the standard
facility `isalpha'. Regex recognizes character class expressions only
inside of lists; so `[[:alpha:]]' matches any letter, but `[:alpha:]'
outside of a bracket expression and not followed by a repetition
operator matches just itself.
File: regex.info, Node: Range Operator, Prev: Character Class Operators, Up: List Operators
Regex recognizes "range expressions" inside a list. They represent
those characters that fall between two elements in the current
collating sequence. You form a range expression by putting a "range
operator" between two characters.(1) `-' represents the range operator.
For example, `a-f' within a list represents all the characters from `a'
If the syntax bit `RE_NO_EMPTY_RANGES' is set, then if the range's
ending point collates less than its starting point, the range (and the
regular expression containing it) is invalid. For example, the regular
expression `[z-a]' would be invalid. If this bit isn't set, then Regex
considers such a range to be empty.
Since `-' represents the range operator, if you want to make a `-'
character itself a list item, you must do one of the following:
* Put the `-' either first or last in the list.
* Include a range whose starting point collates strictly lower than
`-' and whose ending point collates equal or higher. Unless a
range is the first item in a list, a `-' can't be its starting
point, but *can* be its ending point. That is because Regex
considers `-' to be the range operator unless it is preceded by
another `-'. For example, in the ASCII encoding, `)', `*', `+',
`,', `-', `.', and `/' are contiguous characters in the collating
sequence. You might think that `[)-+--/]' has two ranges: `)-+'
and `--/'. Rather, it has the ranges `)-+' and `+--', plus the
character `/', so it matches, e.g., `,', not `.'.
* Put a range whose starting point is `-' first in the list.
For example, `[-a-z]' matches a lowercase letter or a hyphen (in
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) You can't use a character class for the starting or ending point
of a range, since a character class is not a single character.
File: regex.info, Node: Grouping Operators, Next: Back-reference Operator, Prev: List Operators, Up: Common Operators
Grouping Operators (`(' ... `)' or `\(' ... `\)')
=================================================
A "group", also known as a "subexpression", consists of an
"open-group operator", any number of other operators, and a
"close-group operator". Regex treats this sequence as a unit, just as
mathematics and programming languages treat a parenthesized expression
Therefore, using "groups", you can:
* delimit the argument(s) to an alternation operator (*note
Alternation Operator::.) or a repetition operator (*note
Repetition Operators::.).
* keep track of the indices of the substring that matched a given
group. *Note Using Registers::, for a precise explanation. This
* use the back-reference operator (*note Back-reference
* use registers (*note Using Registers::.).
If the syntax bit `RE_NO_BK_PARENS' is set, then `(' represents the
open-group operator and `)' represents the close-group operator;
otherwise, `\(' and `\)' do.
If the syntax bit `RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD' is set and a
close-group operator has no matching open-group operator, then Regex
considers it to match `)'.
File: regex.info, Node: Back-reference Operator, Next: Anchoring Operators, Prev: Grouping Operators, Up: Common Operators
The Back-reference Operator ("\"DIGIT)
======================================
If the syntax bit `RE_NO_BK_REF' isn't set, then Regex recognizes
back references. A back reference matches a specified preceding group.
The back reference operator is represented by `\DIGIT' anywhere after
the end of a regular expression's DIGIT-th group (*note Grouping
DIGIT must be between `1' and `9'. The matcher assigns numbers 1
through 9 to the first nine groups it encounters. By using one of `\1'
through `\9' after the corresponding group's close-group operator, you
can match a substring identical to the one that the group does.
Back references match according to the following (in all examples
below, `(' represents the open-group, `)' the close-group, `{' the
open-interval and `}' the close-interval operator):
* If the group matches a substring, the back reference matches an
identical substring. For example, `(a)\1' matches `aa' and
`(bana)na\1bo\1' matches `bananabanabobana'. Likewise, `(.*)\1'
matches any (newline-free if the syntax bit `RE_DOT_NEWLINE' isn't
set) string that is composed of two identical halves; the `(.*)'
matches the first half and the `\1' matches the second half.
* If the group matches more than once (as it might if followed by,
e.g., a repetition operator), then the back reference matches the
substring the group *last* matched. For example, `((a*)b)*\1\2'
matches `aabababa'; first group 1 (the outer one) matches `aab'
and group 2 (the inner one) matches `aa'. Then group 1 matches
`ab' and group 2 matches `a'. So, `\1' matches `ab' and `\2'
* If the group doesn't participate in a match, i.e., it is part of an
alternative not taken or a repetition operator allows zero
repetitions of it, then the back reference makes the whole match
fail. For example, `(one()|two())-and-(three\2|four\3)' matches
`one-and-three' and `two-and-four', but not `one-and-four' or
`two-and-three'. For example, if the pattern matches `one-and-',
then its group 2 matches the empty string and its group 3 doesn't
participate in the match. So, if it then matches `four', then
when it tries to back reference group 3--which it will attempt to
do because `\3' follows the `four'--the match will fail because
group 3 didn't participate in the match.
You can use a back reference as an argument to a repetition operator.
For example, `(a(b))\2*' matches `a' followed by two or more `b's.
Similarly, `(a(b))\2{3}' matches `abbbb'.
If there is no preceding DIGIT-th subexpression, the regular
File: regex.info, Node: Anchoring Operators, Prev: Back-reference Operator, Up: Common Operators
These operators can constrain a pattern to match only at the
beginning or end of the entire string or at the beginning or end of a
* Match-beginning-of-line Operator:: ^
* Match-end-of-line Operator:: $
File: regex.info, Node: Match-beginning-of-line Operator, Next: Match-end-of-line Operator, Up: Anchoring Operators
The Match-beginning-of-line Operator (`^')
------------------------------------------
This operator can match the empty string either at the beginning of
the string or after a newline character. Thus, it is said to "anchor"
the pattern to the beginning of a line.
In the cases following, `^' represents this operator. (Otherwise,
* It (the `^') is first in the pattern, as in `^foo'.
* The syntax bit `RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS' is set, and it is outside
* It follows an open-group or alternation operator, as in `a\(^b\)'
and `a\|^b'. *Note Grouping Operators::, and *Note Alternation
These rules imply that some valid patterns containing `^' cannot be
matched; for example, `foo^bar' if `RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS' is set.
If the `not_bol' field is set in the pattern buffer (*note GNU
Pattern Buffers::.), then `^' fails to match at the beginning of the
string. *Note POSIX Matching::, for when you might find this useful.
If the `newline_anchor' field is set in the pattern buffer, then `^'
fails to match after a newline. This is useful when you do not regard
the string to be matched as broken into lines.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-end-of-line Operator, Prev: Match-beginning-of-line Operator, Up: Anchoring Operators
The Match-end-of-line Operator (`$')
------------------------------------
This operator can match the empty string either at the end of the
string or before a newline character in the string. Thus, it is said
to "anchor" the pattern to the end of a line.
It is always represented by `$'. For example, `foo$' usually
matches, e.g., `foo' and, e.g., the first three characters of
Its interaction with the syntax bits and pattern buffer fields is
exactly the dual of `^''s; see the previous section. (That is,
"beginning" becomes "end", "next" becomes "previous", and "after"
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Operators, Next: GNU Emacs Operators, Prev: Common Operators, Up: Top
Following are operators that GNU defines (and POSIX doesn't).
File: regex.info, Node: Word Operators, Next: Buffer Operators, Up: GNU Operators
The operators in this section require Regex to recognize parts of
words. Regex uses a syntax table to determine whether or not a
character is part of a word, i.e., whether or not it is
* Non-Emacs Syntax Tables::
* Match-word-boundary Operator:: \b
* Match-within-word Operator:: \B
* Match-beginning-of-word Operator:: \<
* Match-end-of-word Operator:: \>
* Match-word-constituent Operator:: \w
* Match-non-word-constituent Operator:: \W
File: regex.info, Node: Non-Emacs Syntax Tables, Next: Match-word-boundary Operator, Up: Word Operators
A "syntax table" is an array indexed by the characters in your
character set. In the ASCII encoding, therefore, a syntax table has
256 elements. Regex always uses a `char *' variable `re_syntax_table'
as its syntax table. In some cases, it initializes this variable and
in others it expects you to initialize it.
* If Regex is compiled with the preprocessor symbols `emacs' and
`SYNTAX_TABLE' both undefined, then Regex allocates
`re_syntax_table' and initializes an element I either to `Sword'
(which it defines) if I is a letter, number, or `_', or to zero if
* If Regex is compiled with `emacs' undefined but `SYNTAX_TABLE'
defined, then Regex expects you to define a `char *' variable
`re_syntax_table' to be a valid syntax table.
* *Note Emacs Syntax Tables::, for what happens when Regex is
compiled with the preprocessor symbol `emacs' defined.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-word-boundary Operator, Next: Match-within-word Operator, Prev: Non-Emacs Syntax Tables, Up: Word Operators
The Match-word-boundary Operator (`\b')
---------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\b') matches the empty string at
either the beginning or the end of a word. For example, `\brat\b'
matches the separate word `rat'.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-within-word Operator, Next: Match-beginning-of-word Operator, Prev: Match-word-boundary Operator, Up: Word Operators
The Match-within-word Operator (`\B')
-------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\B') matches the empty string within a
word. For example, `c\Brat\Be' matches `crate', but `dirty \Brat'
doesn't match `dirty rat'.
File: regex.info, Node: Match-beginning-of-word Operator, Next: Match-end-of-word Operator, Prev: Match-within-word Operator, Up: Word Operators
The Match-beginning-of-word Operator (`\<')
-------------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\<') matches the empty string at the
File: regex.info, Node: Match-end-of-word Operator, Next: Match-word-constituent Operator, Prev: Match-beginning-of-word Operator, Up: Word Operators
The Match-end-of-word Operator (`\>')
-------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\>') matches the empty string at the
File: regex.info, Node: Match-word-constituent Operator, Next: Match-non-word-constituent Operator, Prev: Match-end-of-word Operator, Up: Word Operators
The Match-word-constituent Operator (`\w')
------------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\w') matches any word-constituent
File: regex.info, Node: Match-non-word-constituent Operator, Prev: Match-word-constituent Operator, Up: Word Operators
The Match-non-word-constituent Operator (`\W')
----------------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\W') matches any character that is not
File: regex.info, Node: Buffer Operators, Prev: Word Operators, Up: GNU Operators
Following are operators which work on buffers. In Emacs, a "buffer"
is, naturally, an Emacs buffer. For other programs, Regex considers the
entire string to be matched as the buffer.
* Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator:: \`
* Match-end-of-buffer Operator:: \'
File: regex.info, Node: Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator, Next: Match-end-of-buffer Operator, Up: Buffer Operators
The Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator (`\`')
---------------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\`') matches the empty string at the
File: regex.info, Node: Match-end-of-buffer Operator, Prev: Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator, Up: Buffer Operators
The Match-end-of-buffer Operator (`\'')
---------------------------------------
This operator (represented by `\'') matches the empty string at the
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Emacs Operators, Next: What Gets Matched?, Prev: GNU Operators, Up: Top
Following are operators that GNU defines (and POSIX doesn't) that you
can use only when Regex is compiled with the preprocessor symbol
* Syntactic Class Operators::
File: regex.info, Node: Syntactic Class Operators, Up: GNU Emacs Operators
Syntactic Class Operators
=========================
The operators in this section require Regex to recognize the syntactic
classes of characters. Regex uses a syntax table to determine this.
* Match-syntactic-class Operator:: \sCLASS
* Match-not-syntactic-class Operator:: \SCLASS
File: regex.info, Node: Emacs Syntax Tables, Next: Match-syntactic-class Operator, Up: Syntactic Class Operators
A "syntax table" is an array indexed by the characters in your
character set. In the ASCII encoding, therefore, a syntax table has
If Regex is compiled with the preprocessor symbol `emacs' defined,
then Regex expects you to define and initialize the variable
`re_syntax_table' to be an Emacs syntax table. Emacs' syntax tables
are more complicated than Regex's own (*note Non-Emacs Syntax
Tables::.). *Note Syntax: (emacs)Syntax, for a description of Emacs'
File: regex.info, Node: Match-syntactic-class Operator, Next: Match-not-syntactic-class Operator, Prev: Emacs Syntax Tables, Up: Syntactic Class Operators
The Match-syntactic-class Operator (`\s'CLASS)
----------------------------------------------
This operator matches any character whose syntactic class is
represented by a specified character. `\sCLASS' represents this
operator where CLASS is the character representing the syntactic class
you want. For example, `w' represents the syntactic class of
word-constituent characters, so `\sw' matches any word-constituent
File: regex.info, Node: Match-not-syntactic-class Operator, Prev: Match-syntactic-class Operator, Up: Syntactic Class Operators
The Match-not-syntactic-class Operator (`\S'CLASS)
--------------------------------------------------
This operator is similar to the match-syntactic-class operator except
that it matches any character whose syntactic class is *not*
represented by the specified character. `\SCLASS' represents this
operator. For example, `w' represents the syntactic class of
word-constituent characters, so `\Sw' matches any character that is not
File: regex.info, Node: What Gets Matched?, Next: Programming with Regex, Prev: GNU Emacs Operators, Up: Top
Regex usually matches strings according to the "leftmost longest"
rule; that is, it chooses the longest of the leftmost matches. This
does not mean that for a regular expression containing subexpressions
that it simply chooses the longest match for each subexpression, left to
right; the overall match must also be the longest possible one.
For example, `(ac*)(c*d[ac]*)\1' matches `acdacaaa', not `acdac', as
it would if it were to choose the longest match for the first
File: regex.info, Node: Programming with Regex, Next: Copying, Prev: What Gets Matched?, Up: Top
Here we describe how you use the Regex data structures and functions
in C programs. Regex has three interfaces: one designed for GNU, one
compatible with POSIX and one compatible with Berkeley UNIX.
* POSIX Regex Functions::
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Regex Functions, Next: POSIX Regex Functions, Up: Programming with Regex
If you're writing code that doesn't need to be compatible with either
POSIX or Berkeley UNIX, you can use these functions. They provide more
options than the other interfaces.
* GNU Pattern Buffers:: The re_pattern_buffer type.
* GNU Regular Expression Compiling:: re_compile_pattern ()
* GNU Matching:: re_match ()
* GNU Searching:: re_search ()
* Matching/Searching with Split Data:: re_match_2 (), re_search_2 ()
* Searching with Fastmaps:: re_compile_fastmap ()
* GNU Translate Tables:: The `translate' field.
* Using Registers:: The re_registers type and related fns.
* Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers:: regfree ()
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Pattern Buffers, Next: GNU Regular Expression Compiling, Up: GNU Regex Functions
To compile, match, or search for a given regular expression, you must
supply a pattern buffer. A "pattern buffer" holds one compiled regular
You can have several different pattern buffers simultaneously, each
holding a compiled pattern for a different regular expression.
`regex.h' defines the pattern buffer `struct' as follows:
/* Space that holds the compiled pattern. It is declared as
`unsigned char *' because its elements are
sometimes used as array indexes. */
/* Number of bytes to which `buffer' points. */
/* Number of bytes actually used in `buffer'. */
/* Syntax setting with which the pattern was compiled. */
/* Pointer to a fastmap, if any, otherwise zero. re_search uses
the fastmap, if there is one, to skip over impossible
starting points for matches. */
/* Either a translate table to apply to all characters before
comparing them, or zero for no translation. The translation
is applied to a pattern when it is compiled and to a string
/* Number of subexpressions found by the compiler. */
/* Zero if this pattern cannot match the empty string, one else.
Well, in truth it's used only in `re_search_2', to see
whether or not we should use the fastmap, so we don't set
this absolutely perfectly; see `re_compile_fastmap' (the
unsigned can_be_null : 1;
/* If REGS_UNALLOCATED, allocate space in the `regs' structure
for `max (RE_NREGS, re_nsub + 1)' groups.
If REGS_REALLOCATE, reallocate space if necessary.
If REGS_FIXED, use what's there. */
#define REGS_UNALLOCATED 0
#define REGS_REALLOCATE 1
unsigned regs_allocated : 2;
/* Set to zero when `regex_compile' compiles a pattern; set to one
by `re_compile_fastmap' if it updates the fastmap. */
unsigned fastmap_accurate : 1;
/* If set, `re_match_2' does not return information about
/* If set, a beginning-of-line anchor doesn't match at the
beginning of the string. */
/* Similarly for an end-of-line anchor. */
/* If true, an anchor at a newline matches. */
unsigned newline_anchor : 1;
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Regular expressions are also referred to as "patterns," hence
the name "pattern buffer."
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Regular Expression Compiling, Next: GNU Matching, Prev: GNU Pattern Buffers, Up: GNU Regex Functions
GNU Regular Expression Compiling
--------------------------------
In GNU, you can both match and search for a given regular expression.
To do either, you must first compile it in a pattern buffer (*note GNU
Regular expressions match according to the syntax with which they were
compiled; with GNU, you indicate what syntax you want by setting the
variable `re_syntax_options' (declared in `regex.h' and defined in
`regex.c') before calling the compiling function, `re_compile_pattern'
(see below). *Note Syntax Bits::, and *Note Predefined Syntaxes::.
You can change the value of `re_syntax_options' at any time.
Usually, however, you set its value once and then never change it.
`re_compile_pattern' takes a pattern buffer as an argument. You must
initialize the following fields:
`translate initialization'
Initialize this to point to a translate table if you want one, or
to zero if you don't. We explain translate tables in *Note GNU
Initialize this to nonzero if you want a fastmap, or to zero if you
If you want `re_compile_pattern' to allocate memory for the
compiled pattern, set both of these to zero. If you have an
existing block of memory (allocated with `malloc') you want Regex
to use, set `buffer' to its address and `allocated' to its size (in
`re_compile_pattern' uses `realloc' to extend the space for the
compiled pattern as necessary.
To compile a pattern buffer, use:
re_compile_pattern (const char *REGEX, const int REGEX_SIZE,
struct re_pattern_buffer *PATTERN_BUFFER)
REGEX is the regular expression's address, REGEX_SIZE is its length,
and PATTERN_BUFFER is the pattern buffer's address.
If `re_compile_pattern' successfully compiles the regular expression,
it returns zero and sets `*PATTERN_BUFFER' to the compiled pattern. It
sets the pattern buffer's fields as follows:
to the number of bytes the compiled pattern in `buffer' occupies.
to the current value of `re_syntax_options'.
to the number of subexpressions in REGEX.
to zero on the theory that the pattern you're compiling is
different than the one previously compiled into `buffer'; in that
case (since you can't make a fastmap without a compiled pattern),
`fastmap' would either contain an incompatible fastmap, or nothing
If `re_compile_pattern' can't compile REGEX, it returns an error
string corresponding to one of the errors listed in *Note POSIX Regular
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Matching, Next: GNU Searching, Prev: GNU Regular Expression Compiling, Up: GNU Regex Functions
Matching the GNU way means trying to match as much of a string as
possible starting at a position within it you specify. Once you've
compiled a pattern into a pattern buffer (*note GNU Regular Expression
Compiling::.), you can ask the matcher to match that pattern against a
re_match (struct re_pattern_buffer *PATTERN_BUFFER,
const char *STRING, const int SIZE,
const int START, struct re_registers *REGS)
PATTERN_BUFFER is the address of a pattern buffer containing a compiled
pattern. STRING is the string you want to match; it can contain
newline and null characters. SIZE is the length of that string. START
is the string index at which you want to begin matching; the first
character of STRING is at index zero. *Note Using Registers::, for a
explanation of REGS; you can safely pass zero.
`re_match' matches the regular expression in PATTERN_BUFFER against
the string STRING according to the syntax in PATTERN_BUFFERS's `syntax'
field. (*Note GNU Regular Expression Compiling::, for how to set it.)
The function returns -1 if the compiled pattern does not match any part
of STRING and -2 if an internal error happens; otherwise, it returns
how many (possibly zero) characters of STRING the pattern matched.
An example: suppose PATTERN_BUFFER points to a pattern buffer
containing the compiled pattern for `a*', and STRING points to `aaaaab'
(whereupon SIZE should be 6). Then if START is 2, `re_match' returns 3,
i.e., `a*' would have matched the last three `a's in STRING. If START
is 0, `re_match' returns 5, i.e., `a*' would have matched all the `a's
in STRING. If START is either 5 or 6, it returns zero.
If START is not between zero and SIZE, then `re_match' returns -1.
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Searching, Next: Matching/Searching with Split Data, Prev: GNU Matching, Up: GNU Regex Functions
"Searching" means trying to match starting at successive positions
within a string. The function `re_search' does this.
Before calling `re_search', you must compile your regular expression.
*Note GNU Regular Expression Compiling::.
Here is the function declaration:
re_search (struct re_pattern_buffer *PATTERN_BUFFER,
const char *STRING, const int SIZE,
const int START, const int RANGE,
struct re_registers *REGS)
whose arguments are the same as those to `re_match' (*note GNU
Matching::.) except that the two arguments START and RANGE replace
`re_match''s argument START.
If RANGE is positive, then `re_search' attempts a match starting
first at index START, then at START + 1 if that fails, and so on, up to
START + RANGE; if RANGE is negative, then it attempts a match starting
first at index START, then at START -1 if that fails, and so on.
If START is not between zero and SIZE, then `re_search' returns -1.
When RANGE is positive, `re_search' adjusts RANGE so that START + RANGE
- 1 is between zero and SIZE, if necessary; that way it won't search
outside of STRING. Similarly, when RANGE is negative, `re_search'
adjusts RANGE so that START + RANGE + 1 is between zero and SIZE, if
If the `fastmap' field of PATTERN_BUFFER is zero, `re_search' matches
starting at consecutive positions; otherwise, it uses `fastmap' to make
the search more efficient. *Note Searching with Fastmaps::.
If no match is found, `re_search' returns -1. If a match is found,
it returns the index where the match began. If an internal error
File: regex.info, Node: Matching/Searching with Split Data, Next: Searching with Fastmaps, Prev: GNU Searching, Up: GNU Regex Functions
Matching and Searching with Split Data
--------------------------------------
Using the functions `re_match_2' and `re_search_2', you can match or
search in data that is divided into two strings.
re_match_2 (struct re_pattern_buffer *BUFFER,
const char *STRING1, const int SIZE1,
const char *STRING2, const int SIZE2,
struct re_registers *REGS,
is similar to `re_match' (*note GNU Matching::.) except that you pass
*two* data strings and sizes, and an index STOP beyond which you don't
want the matcher to try matching. As with `re_match', if it succeeds,
`re_match_2' returns how many characters of STRING it matched. Regard
STRING1 and STRING2 as concatenated when you set the arguments START and
STOP and use the contents of REGS; `re_match_2' never returns a value
larger than SIZE1 + SIZE2.
re_search_2 (struct re_pattern_buffer *BUFFER,
const char *STRING1, const int SIZE1,
const char *STRING2, const int SIZE2,
const int START, const int RANGE,
struct re_registers *REGS,
is similarly related to `re_search'.
File: regex.info, Node: Searching with Fastmaps, Next: GNU Translate Tables, Prev: Matching/Searching with Split Data, Up: GNU Regex Functions
If you're searching through a long string, you should use a fastmap.
Without one, the searcher tries to match at consecutive positions in the
string. Generally, most of the characters in the string could not start
a match. It takes much longer to try matching at a given position in
the string than it does to check in a table whether or not the
character at that position could start a match. A "fastmap" is such a
More specifically, a fastmap is an array indexed by the characters in
your character set. Under the ASCII encoding, therefore, a fastmap has
256 elements. If you want the searcher to use a fastmap with a given
pattern buffer, you must allocate the array and assign the array's
address to the pattern buffer's `fastmap' field. You either can
compile the fastmap yourself or have `re_search' do it for you; when
`fastmap' is nonzero, it automatically compiles a fastmap the first
time you search using a particular compiled pattern.
To compile a fastmap yourself, use:
re_compile_fastmap (struct re_pattern_buffer *PATTERN_BUFFER)
PATTERN_BUFFER is the address of a pattern buffer. If the character C
could start a match for the pattern, `re_compile_fastmap' makes
`PATTERN_BUFFER->fastmap[C]' nonzero. It returns 0 if it can compile a
fastmap and -2 if there is an internal error. For example, if `|' is
the alternation operator and PATTERN_BUFFER holds the compiled pattern
for `a|b', then `re_compile_fastmap' sets `fastmap['a']' and
`fastmap['b']' (and no others).
`re_search' uses a fastmap as it moves along in the string: it checks
the string's characters until it finds one that's in the fastmap. Then
it tries matching at that character. If the match fails, it repeats
the process. So, by using a fastmap, `re_search' doesn't waste time
trying to match at positions in the string that couldn't start a match.
If you don't want `re_search' to use a fastmap, store zero in the
`fastmap' field of the pattern buffer before calling `re_search'.
Once you've initialized a pattern buffer's `fastmap' field, you need
never do so again--even if you compile a new pattern in it--provided
the way the field is set still reflects whether or not you want a
fastmap. `re_search' will still either do nothing if `fastmap' is null
or, if it isn't, compile a new fastmap for the new pattern.
File: regex.info, Node: GNU Translate Tables, Next: Using Registers, Prev: Searching with Fastmaps, Up: GNU Regex Functions
If you set the `translate' field of a pattern buffer to a translate
table, then the GNU Regex functions to which you've passed that pattern
buffer use it to apply a simple transformation to all the regular
expression and string characters at which they look.
A "translate table" is an array indexed by the characters in your
character set. Under the ASCII encoding, therefore, a translate table
has 256 elements. The array's elements are also characters in your
character set. When the Regex functions see a character C, they use
`translate[C]' in its place, with one exception: the character after a
`\' is not translated. (This ensures that, the operators, e.g., `\B'
and `\b', are always distinguishable.)
For example, a table that maps all lowercase letters to the
corresponding uppercase ones would cause the matcher to ignore
differences in case.(1) Such a table would map all characters except
lowercase letters to themselves, and lowercase letters to the
corresponding uppercase ones. Under the ASCII encoding, here's how you
could initialize such a table (we'll call it `case_fold'):
for (i = 0; i < 256; i++)
for (i = 'a'; i <= 'z'; i++)
case_fold[i] = i - ('a' - 'A');
You tell Regex to use a translate table on a given pattern buffer by
assigning that table's address to the `translate' field of that buffer.
If you don't want Regex to do any translation, put zero into this
field. You'll get weird results if you change the table's contents
anytime between compiling the pattern buffer, compiling its fastmap, and
matching or searching with the pattern buffer.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) A table that maps all uppercase letters to the corresponding
lowercase ones would work just as well for this purpose.
File: regex.info, Node: Using Registers, Next: Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers, Prev: GNU Translate Tables, Up: GNU Regex Functions
A group in a regular expression can match a (posssibly empty)
substring of the string that regular expression as a whole matched.
The matcher remembers the beginning and end of the substring matched by
To find out what they matched, pass a nonzero REGS argument to a GNU
matching or searching function (*note GNU Matching::. and *Note GNU
Searching::), i.e., the address of a structure of this type, as defined
Except for (possibly) the NUM_REGS'th element (see below), the Ith
element of the `start' and `end' arrays records information about the
Ith group in the pattern. (They're declared as C pointers, but this is
only because not all C compilers accept zero-length arrays;
conceptually, it is simplest to think of them as arrays.)
The `start' and `end' arrays are allocated in various ways, depending
on the value of the `regs_allocated' field in the pattern buffer passed
The simplest and perhaps most useful is to let the matcher
(re)allocate enough space to record information for all the groups in
the regular expression. If `regs_allocated' is `REGS_UNALLOCATED', the
matcher allocates 1 + RE_NSUB (another field in the pattern buffer;
*note GNU Pattern Buffers::.). The extra element is set to -1, and
sets `regs_allocated' to `REGS_REALLOCATE'. Then on subsequent calls
with the same pattern buffer and REGS arguments, the matcher
reallocates more space if necessary.
It would perhaps be more logical to make the `regs_allocated' field
part of the `re_registers' structure, instead of part of the pattern
buffer. But in that case the caller would be forced to initialize the
structure before passing it. Much existing code doesn't do this
initialization, and it's arguably better to avoid it anyway.
`re_compile_pattern' sets `regs_allocated' to `REGS_UNALLOCATED', so
if you use the GNU regular expression functions, you get this behavior
xx document re_set_registers
POSIX, on the other hand, requires a different interface: the caller
is supposed to pass in a fixed-length array which the matcher fills.
Therefore, if `regs_allocated' is `REGS_FIXED' the matcher simply fills
The following examples illustrate the information recorded in the
`re_registers' structure. (In all of them, `(' represents the
open-group and `)' the close-group operator. The first character in
the string STRING is at index 0.)
* If the regular expression has an I-th group not contained within
another group that matches a substring of STRING, then the
function sets `REGS->start[I]' to the index in STRING where the
substring matched by the I-th group begins, and `REGS->end[I]' to
the index just beyond that substring's end. The function sets
`REGS->start[0]' and `REGS->end[0]' to analogous information about
For example, when you match `((a)(b))' against `ab', you get:
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 2 in `REGS->end[0]'
* 0 in `REGS->start[1]' and 2 in `REGS->end[1]'
* 0 in `REGS->start[2]' and 1 in `REGS->end[2]'
* 1 in `REGS->start[3]' and 2 in `REGS->end[3]'
* If a group matches more than once (as it might if followed by,
e.g., a repetition operator), then the function reports the
information about what the group *last* matched.
For example, when you match the pattern `(a)*' against the string
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 2 in `REGS->end[0]'
* 1 in `REGS->start[1]' and 2 in `REGS->end[1]'
* If the I-th group does not participate in a successful match,
e.g., it is an alternative not taken or a repetition operator
allows zero repetitions of it, then the function sets
`REGS->start[I]' and `REGS->end[I]' to -1.
For example, when you match the pattern `(a)*b' against the string
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 1 in `REGS->end[0]'
* -1 in `REGS->start[1]' and -1 in `REGS->end[1]'
* If the I-th group matches a zero-length string, then the function
sets `REGS->start[I]' and `REGS->end[I]' to the index just beyond
For example, when you match the pattern `(a*)b' against the string
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 1 in `REGS->end[0]'
* 0 in `REGS->start[1]' and 0 in `REGS->end[1]'
* If an I-th group contains a J-th group in turn not contained
within any other group within group I and the function reports a
match of the I-th group, then it records in `REGS->start[J]' and
`REGS->end[J]' the last match (if it matched) of the J-th group.
For example, when you match the pattern `((a*)b)*' against the
string `abb', group 2 last matches the empty string, so you get
what it previously matched:
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 3 in `REGS->end[0]'
* 2 in `REGS->start[1]' and 3 in `REGS->end[1]'
* 2 in `REGS->start[2]' and 2 in `REGS->end[2]'
When you match the pattern `((a)*b)*' against the string `abb',
group 2 doesn't participate in the last match, so you get:
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 3 in `REGS->end[0]'
* 2 in `REGS->start[1]' and 3 in `REGS->end[1]'
* 0 in `REGS->start[2]' and 1 in `REGS->end[2]'
* If an I-th group contains a J-th group in turn not contained
within any other group within group I and the function sets
`REGS->start[I]' and `REGS->end[I]' to -1, then it also sets
`REGS->start[J]' and `REGS->end[J]' to -1.
For example, when you match the pattern `((a)*b)*c' against the
* 0 in `REGS->start[0]' and 1 in `REGS->end[0]'
* -1 in `REGS->start[1]' and -1 in `REGS->end[1]'
* -1 in `REGS->start[2]' and -1 in `REGS->end[2]'
File: regex.info, Node: Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers, Prev: Using Registers, Up: GNU Regex Functions
Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers
---------------------------
To free any allocated fields of a pattern buffer, you can use the
POSIX function described in *Note Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers::,
since the type `regex_t'--the type for POSIX pattern buffers--is
equivalent to the type `re_pattern_buffer'. After freeing a pattern
buffer, you need to again compile a regular expression in it (*note GNU
Regular Expression Compiling::.) before passing it to a matching or
File: regex.info, Node: POSIX Regex Functions, Next: BSD Regex Functions, Prev: GNU Regex Functions, Up: Programming with Regex
If you're writing code that has to be POSIX compatible, you'll need
to use these functions. Their interfaces are as specified by POSIX,
* POSIX Pattern Buffers:: The regex_t type.
* POSIX Regular Expression Compiling:: regcomp ()
* POSIX Matching:: regexec ()
* Reporting Errors:: regerror ()
* Using Byte Offsets:: The regmatch_t type.
* Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers:: regfree ()
File: regex.info, Node: POSIX Pattern Buffers, Next: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
To compile or match a given regular expression the POSIX way, you
must supply a pattern buffer exactly the way you do for GNU (*note GNU
Pattern Buffers::.). POSIX pattern buffers have type `regex_t', which
is equivalent to the GNU pattern buffer type `re_pattern_buffer'.
File: regex.info, Node: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling, Next: POSIX Matching, Prev: POSIX Pattern Buffers, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
POSIX Regular Expression Compiling
----------------------------------
With POSIX, you can only search for a given regular expression; you
can't match it. To do this, you must first compile it in a pattern
To compile a pattern buffer, use:
regcomp (regex_t *PREG, const char *REGEX, int CFLAGS)
PREG is the initialized pattern buffer's address, REGEX is the regular
expression's address, and CFLAGS is the compilation flags, which Regex
considers as a collection of bits. Here are the valid bits, as defined
says to use POSIX Extended Regular Expression syntax; if this isn't
set, then says to use POSIX Basic Regular Expression syntax.
`regcomp' sets PREG's `syntax' field accordingly.
says to ignore case; `regcomp' sets PREG's `translate' field to a
translate table which ignores case, replacing anything you've put
says to set PREG's `no_sub' field; *note POSIX Matching::., for
* match-any-character operator (*note Match-any-character
Operator::.) doesn't match a newline.
* nonmatching list not containing a newline (*note List
Operators::.) matches a newline.
* match-beginning-of-line operator (*note
Match-beginning-of-line Operator::.) matches the empty string
immediately after a newline, regardless of how `REG_NOTBOL'
is set (*note POSIX Matching::., for an explanation of
* match-end-of-line operator (*note Match-beginning-of-line
Operator::.) matches the empty string immediately before a
newline, regardless of how `REG_NOTEOL' is set (*note POSIX
Matching::., for an explanation of `REG_NOTEOL').
If `regcomp' successfully compiles the regular expression, it returns
zero and sets `*PATTERN_BUFFER' to the compiled pattern. Except for
`syntax' (which it sets as explained above), it also sets the same
fields the same way as does the GNU compiling function (*note GNU
Regular Expression Compiling::.).
If `regcomp' can't compile the regular expression, it returns one of
the error codes listed here. (Except when noted differently, the
syntax of in all examples below is basic regular expression syntax.)
For example, the consecutive repetition operators `**' in `a**'
are invalid. As another example, if the syntax is extended
regular expression syntax, then the repetition operator `*' with
nothing on which to operate in `*' is invalid.
For example, the COUNT `-1' in `a\{-1' is invalid.
For example, `a\{1' is missing a close-interval operator.
For example, `[a' is missing a close-list operator.
For example, the range ending point `z' that collates lower than
does its starting point `a' in `[z-a]' is invalid. Also, the
range with the character class `[:alpha:]' as its starting point in
For example, the character class name `foo' in `[[:foo:]' is
For example, `a\)' is missing an open-group operator and `\(a' is
missing a close-group operator.
For example, the back reference `\2' that refers to a nonexistent
subexpression in `\(a\)\2' is invalid.
Returned when a regular expression causes no other more specific
For example, the trailing backslash `\' in `a\' is invalid, as is
For example, in the extended regular expression syntax, the empty
group `()' in `a()b' is invalid.
Returned when a regular expression needs a pattern buffer larger
Returned when a regular expression makes Regex to run out of
File: regex.info, Node: POSIX Matching, Next: Reporting Errors, Prev: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
Matching the POSIX way means trying to match a null-terminated string
starting at its first character. Once you've compiled a pattern into a
pattern buffer (*note POSIX Regular Expression Compiling::.), you can
ask the matcher to match that pattern against a string using:
regexec (const regex_t *PREG, const char *STRING,
size_t NMATCH, regmatch_t PMATCH[], int EFLAGS)
PREG is the address of a pattern buffer for a compiled pattern. STRING
is the string you want to match.
*Note Using Byte Offsets::, for an explanation of PMATCH. If you
pass zero for NMATCH or you compiled PREG with the compilation flag
`REG_NOSUB' set, then `regexec' will ignore PMATCH; otherwise, you must
allocate it to have at least NMATCH elements. `regexec' will record
NMATCH byte offsets in PMATCH, and set to -1 any unused elements up to
EFLAGS specifies "execution flags"--namely, the two bits `REG_NOTBOL'
and `REG_NOTEOL' (defined in `regex.h'). If you set `REG_NOTBOL', then
the match-beginning-of-line operator (*note Match-beginning-of-line
Operator::.) always fails to match. This lets you match against pieces
of a line, as you would need to if, say, searching for repeated
instances of a given pattern in a line; it would work correctly for
patterns both with and without match-beginning-of-line operators.
`REG_NOTEOL' works analogously for the match-end-of-line operator
(*note Match-end-of-line Operator::.); it exists for symmetry.
`regexec' tries to find a match for PREG in STRING according to the
syntax in PREG's `syntax' field. (*Note POSIX Regular Expression
Compiling::, for how to set it.) The function returns zero if the
compiled pattern matches STRING and `REG_NOMATCH' (defined in
`regex.h') if it doesn't.
File: regex.info, Node: Reporting Errors, Next: Using Byte Offsets, Prev: POSIX Matching, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
If either `regcomp' or `regexec' fail, they return a nonzero error
code, the possibilities for which are defined in `regex.h'. *Note
POSIX Regular Expression Compiling::, and *Note POSIX Matching::, for
what these codes mean. To get an error string corresponding to these
ERRCODE is an error code, PREG is the address of the pattern buffer
which provoked the error, ERRBUF is the error buffer, and ERRBUF_SIZE
`regerror' returns the size in bytes of the error string
corresponding to ERRCODE (including its terminating null). If ERRBUF
and ERRBUF_SIZE are nonzero, it also returns in ERRBUF the first
ERRBUF_SIZE - 1 characters of the error string, followed by a null.
eRRBUF_SIZE must be a nonnegative number less than or equal to the size
You can call `regerror' with a null ERRBUF and a zero ERRBUF_SIZE to
determine how large ERRBUF need be to accommodate `regerror''s error
File: regex.info, Node: Using Byte Offsets, Next: Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers, Prev: Reporting Errors, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
In POSIX, variables of type `regmatch_t' hold analogous information,
but are not identical to, GNU's registers (*note Using Registers::.).
To get information about registers in POSIX, pass to `regexec' a
nonzero PMATCH of type `regmatch_t', i.e., the address of a structure
of this type, defined in `regex.h':
When reading in *Note Using Registers::, about how the matching
function stores the information into the registers, substitute PMATCH
for REGS, `PMATCH[I]->rm_so' for `REGS->start[I]' and
`PMATCH[I]->rm_eo' for `REGS->end[I]'.
File: regex.info, Node: Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers, Prev: Using Byte Offsets, Up: POSIX Regex Functions
Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers
-----------------------------
To free any allocated fields of a pattern buffer, use:
PREG is the pattern buffer whose allocated fields you want freed.
`regfree' also sets PREG's `allocated' and `used' fields to zero.
After freeing a pattern buffer, you need to again compile a regular
expression in it (*note POSIX Regular Expression Compiling::.) before
passing it to the matching function (*note POSIX Matching::.).
File: regex.info, Node: BSD Regex Functions, Prev: POSIX Regex Functions, Up: Programming with Regex
If you're writing code that has to be Berkeley UNIX compatible,
you'll need to use these functions whose interfaces are the same as
* BSD Regular Expression Compiling:: re_comp ()
* BSD Searching:: re_exec ()
File: regex.info, Node: BSD Regular Expression Compiling, Next: BSD Searching, Up: BSD Regex Functions
BSD Regular Expression Compiling
--------------------------------
With Berkeley UNIX, you can only search for a given regular
expression; you can't match one. To search for it, you must first
compile it. Before you compile it, you must indicate the regular
expression syntax you want it compiled according to by setting the
variable `re_syntax_options' (declared in `regex.h' to some syntax
(*note Regular Expression Syntax::.).
To compile a regular expression use:
REGEX is the address of a null-terminated regular expression.
`re_comp' uses an internal pattern buffer, so you can use only the most
recently compiled pattern buffer. This means that if you want to use a
given regular expression that you've already compiled--but it isn't the
latest one you've compiled--you'll have to recompile it. If you call
`re_comp' with the null string (*not* the empty string) as the
argument, it doesn't change the contents of the pattern buffer.
If `re_comp' successfully compiles the regular expression, it returns
zero. If it can't compile the regular expression, it returns an error
string. `re_comp''s error messages are identical to those of
`re_compile_pattern' (*note GNU Regular Expression Compiling::.).
File: regex.info, Node: BSD Searching, Prev: BSD Regular Expression Compiling, Up: BSD Regex Functions
Searching the Berkeley UNIX way means searching in a string starting
at its first character and trying successive positions within it to
find a match. Once you've compiled a pattern using `re_comp' (*note
BSD Regular Expression Compiling::.), you can ask Regex to search for
that pattern in a string using:
STRING is the address of the null-terminated string in which you want
`re_exec' returns either 1 for success or 0 for failure. It
automatically uses a GNU fastmap (*note Searching with Fastmaps::.).
File: regex.info, Node: Copying, Next: Index, Prev: Programming with Regex, Up: Top
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
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otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this
License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights,
from you under this License will not have their licenses
terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
6. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify
or distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions
are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.
Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work
based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this
License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying,
distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.
7. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program
subject to these terms and conditions. You may not impose any
further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights
granted herein. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance
by third parties to this License.
8. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this
License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this
License. If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously
your obligations under this License and any other pertinent
obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the
Program at all. For example, if a patent license would not permit
royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who
receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only
way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain
entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable
under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is
intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply
It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of
any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting
the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is
willing to distribute software through any other system and a
licensee cannot impose that choice.
This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed
to be a consequence of the rest of this License.
9. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces,
the original copyright holder who places the Program under this
License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation
excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only
in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this
License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of
10. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
versions of the General Public License from time to time. Such
new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but
may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the
Program specifies a version number of this License which applies
to it and "any later version", you have the option of following
the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program
does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose
any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.
11. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
author to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted
by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software
Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this. Our decision
will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of
all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing
and reuse of software generally.
12. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
13. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY
MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU
OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY
OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN
ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Appendix: How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
=======================================================
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
ONE LINE TO GIVE THE PROGRAM'S NAME AND A BRIEF IDEA OF WHAT IT DOES.
Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or
your school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program,
if necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
`Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
SIGNATURE OF TY COON, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your
program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine
library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.
File: regex.info, Node: Index, Prev: Copying, Up: Top
* $: Match-end-of-line Operator.
* *: Match-zero-or-more Operator.
* +: Match-one-or-more Operator.
* .: Match-any-character Operator.
* :] in regex: Character Class Operators.
* ?: Match-zero-or-one Operator.
* [: in regex: Character Class Operators.
* \': Match-end-of-buffer Operator.
* \<: Match-beginning-of-word Operator.
* \>: Match-end-of-word Operator.
* \{: Interval Operators.
* \}: Interval Operators.
* \b: Match-word-boundary Operator.
* \B: Match-within-word Operator.
* \s: Match-syntactic-class Operator.
* \S: Match-not-syntactic-class Operator.
* \w: Match-word-constituent Operator.
* \W: Match-non-word-constituent Operator.
* \`: Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator.
* allocated initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* alternation operator: Alternation Operator.
* alternation operator and ^: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* anchoring: Anchoring Operators.
* anchors: Match-end-of-line Operator.
* anchors: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* Awk: Predefined Syntaxes.
* back references: Back-reference Operator.
* backtracking: Match-zero-or-more Operator.
* backtracking: Alternation Operator.
* beginning-of-line operator: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* bracket expression: List Operators.
* buffer field, set by re_compile_pattern: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* buffer initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* character classes: Character Class Operators.
* Egrep: Predefined Syntaxes.
* Emacs: Predefined Syntaxes.
* end in struct re_registers: Using Registers.
* end-of-line operator: Match-end-of-line Operator.
* fastmap initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* fastmaps: Searching with Fastmaps.
* fastmap_accurate field, set by re_compile_pattern: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* Grep: Predefined Syntaxes.
* grouping: Grouping Operators.
* ignoring case: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling.
* interval expression: Interval Operators.
* matching list: List Operators.
* matching newline: List Operators.
* matching with GNU functions: GNU Matching.
* newline_anchor field in pattern buffer: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* nonmatching list: List Operators.
* not_bol field in pattern buffer: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* num_regs in struct re_registers: Using Registers.
* open-group operator and ^: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* or operator: Alternation Operator.
* parenthesizing: Grouping Operators.
* pattern buffer initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* pattern buffer, definition of: GNU Pattern Buffers.
* POSIX Awk: Predefined Syntaxes.
* range argument to re_search: GNU Searching.
* regexp anchoring: Anchoring Operators.
* regmatch_t: Using Byte Offsets.
* regs_allocated: Using Registers.
* REGS_FIXED: Using Registers.
* REGS_REALLOCATE: Using Registers.
* REGS_UNALLOCATED: Using Registers.
* regular expressions, syntax of: Regular Expression Syntax.
* REG_EXTENDED: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling.
* REG_ICASE: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling.
* REG_NEWLINE: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling.
* REG_NOSUB: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling.
* RE_BACKSLASH_ESCAPE_IN_LIST: Syntax Bits.
* RE_BK_PLUS_QM: Syntax Bits.
* RE_CHAR_CLASSES: Syntax Bits.
* RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_ANCHORS (and ^): Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* RE_CONTEXT_INDEP_OPS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_CONTEXT_INVALID_OPS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_DOT_NEWLINE: Syntax Bits.
* RE_DOT_NOT_NULL: Syntax Bits.
* RE_INTERVALS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_LIMITED_OPS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NEWLINE_ALT: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NO_BK_BRACES: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NO_BK_PARENS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NO_BK_REFS: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NO_BK_VBAR: Syntax Bits.
* RE_NO_EMPTY_RANGES: Syntax Bits.
* re_nsub field, set by re_compile_pattern: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* re_pattern_buffer definition: GNU Pattern Buffers.
* re_registers: Using Registers.
* re_syntax_options initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* RE_UNMATCHED_RIGHT_PAREN_ORD: Syntax Bits.
* searching with GNU functions: GNU Searching.
* start argument to re_search: GNU Searching.
* start in struct re_registers: Using Registers.
* struct re_pattern_buffer definition: GNU Pattern Buffers.
* subexpressions: Grouping Operators.
* syntax field, set by re_compile_pattern: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* syntax bits: Syntax Bits.
* syntax initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* syntax of regular expressions: Regular Expression Syntax.
* translate initialization: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* used field, set by re_compile_pattern: GNU Regular Expression Compiling.
* word boundaries, matching: Match-word-boundary Operator.
* \: The Backslash Character.
* \(: Grouping Operators.
* \): Grouping Operators.
* \|: Alternation Operator.
* ^: Match-beginning-of-line Operator.
* |: Alternation Operator.
Node: Regular Expression Syntax
\7f6746
Node: Predefined Syntaxes
\7f14018
Node: Collating Elements vs. Characters
\7f17872
Node: The Backslash Character
\7f18835
Node: Common Operators
\7f21992
Node: Match-self Operator
\7f23445
Node: Match-any-character Operator
\7f23941
Node: Concatenation Operator
\7f24520
Node: Repetition Operators
\7f25017
Node: Match-zero-or-more Operator
\7f25436
Node: Match-one-or-more Operator
\7f27483
Node: Match-zero-or-one Operator
\7f28341
Node: Interval Operators
\7f29196
Node: Alternation Operator
\7f30991
Node: List Operators
\7f32489
Node: Character Class Operators
\7f35272
Node: Range Operator
\7f36901
Node: Grouping Operators
\7f38930
Node: Back-reference Operator
\7f40251
Node: Anchoring Operators
\7f43073
Node: Match-beginning-of-line Operator
\7f43447
Node: Match-end-of-line Operator
\7f44779
Node: GNU Operators
\7f45518
Node: Word Operators
\7f45767
Node: Non-Emacs Syntax Tables
\7f46391
Node: Match-word-boundary Operator
\7f47465
Node: Match-within-word Operator
\7f47858
Node: Match-beginning-of-word Operator
\7f48255
Node: Match-end-of-word Operator
\7f48588
Node: Match-word-constituent Operator
\7f48908
Node: Match-non-word-constituent Operator
\7f49234
Node: Buffer Operators
\7f49545
Node: Match-beginning-of-buffer Operator
\7f49952
Node: Match-end-of-buffer Operator
\7f50264
Node: GNU Emacs Operators
\7f50558
Node: Syntactic Class Operators
\7f50901
Node: Emacs Syntax Tables
\7f51307
Node: Match-syntactic-class Operator
\7f51963
Node: Match-not-syntactic-class Operator
\7f52560
Node: What Gets Matched?
\7f53150
Node: Programming with Regex
\7f53799
Node: GNU Regex Functions
\7f54237
Node: GNU Pattern Buffers
\7f55078
Node: GNU Regular Expression Compiling
\7f58303
Node: GNU Matching
\7f61181
Node: GNU Searching
\7f63101
Node: Matching/Searching with Split Data
\7f64913
Node: Searching with Fastmaps
\7f66369
Node: GNU Translate Tables
\7f68921
Node: Using Registers
\7f70892
Node: Freeing GNU Pattern Buffers
\7f77000
Node: POSIX Regex Functions
\7f77593
Node: POSIX Pattern Buffers
\7f78266
Node: POSIX Regular Expression Compiling
\7f78709
Node: POSIX Matching
\7f82836
Node: Reporting Errors
\7f84791
Node: Using Byte Offsets
\7f86048
Node: Freeing POSIX Pattern Buffers
\7f86861
Node: BSD Regex Functions
\7f87467
Node: BSD Regular Expression Compiling
\7f87886
Node: BSD Searching
\7f89258
projects / unix-history / blob