Annotation of embedaddon/pcre/doc/html/pcretest.html, revision 1.1.1.2
1.1 misho 1: <html>
2: <head>
3: <title>pcretest specification</title>
4: </head>
5: <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#00005A" link="#0066FF" alink="#3399FF" vlink="#2222BB">
6: <h1>pcretest man page</h1>
7: <p>
8: Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE index page</a>.
9: </p>
10: <p>
11: This page is part of the PCRE HTML documentation. It was generated automatically
12: from the original man page. If there is any nonsense in it, please consult the
13: man page, in case the conversion went wrong.
14: <br>
15: <ul>
16: <li><a name="TOC1" href="#SEC1">SYNOPSIS</a>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 17: <li><a name="TOC2" href="#SEC2">PCRE's 8-BIT and 16-BIT LIBRARIES</a>
! 18: <li><a name="TOC3" href="#SEC3">COMMAND LINE OPTIONS</a>
! 19: <li><a name="TOC4" href="#SEC4">DESCRIPTION</a>
! 20: <li><a name="TOC5" href="#SEC5">PATTERN MODIFIERS</a>
! 21: <li><a name="TOC6" href="#SEC6">DATA LINES</a>
! 22: <li><a name="TOC7" href="#SEC7">THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION</a>
! 23: <li><a name="TOC8" href="#SEC8">DEFAULT OUTPUT FROM PCRETEST</a>
! 24: <li><a name="TOC9" href="#SEC9">OUTPUT FROM THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION</a>
! 25: <li><a name="TOC10" href="#SEC10">RESTARTING AFTER A PARTIAL MATCH</a>
! 26: <li><a name="TOC11" href="#SEC11">CALLOUTS</a>
! 27: <li><a name="TOC12" href="#SEC12">NON-PRINTING CHARACTERS</a>
! 28: <li><a name="TOC13" href="#SEC13">SAVING AND RELOADING COMPILED PATTERNS</a>
! 29: <li><a name="TOC14" href="#SEC14">SEE ALSO</a>
! 30: <li><a name="TOC15" href="#SEC15">AUTHOR</a>
! 31: <li><a name="TOC16" href="#SEC16">REVISION</a>
1.1 misho 32: </ul>
33: <br><a name="SEC1" href="#TOC1">SYNOPSIS</a><br>
34: <P>
35: <b>pcretest [options] [input file [output file]]</b>
36: <br>
37: <br>
38: <b>pcretest</b> was written as a test program for the PCRE regular expression
39: library itself, but it can also be used for experimenting with regular
40: expressions. This document describes the features of the test program; for
41: details of the regular expressions themselves, see the
42: <a href="pcrepattern.html"><b>pcrepattern</b></a>
43: documentation. For details of the PCRE library function calls and their
44: options, see the
45: <a href="pcreapi.html"><b>pcreapi</b></a>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 46: and
! 47: <a href="pcre16.html"><b>pcre16</b></a>
1.1 misho 48: documentation. The input for <b>pcretest</b> is a sequence of regular expression
49: patterns and strings to be matched, as described below. The output shows the
50: result of each match. Options on the command line and the patterns control PCRE
51: options and exactly what is output.
52: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 53: <br><a name="SEC2" href="#TOC1">PCRE's 8-BIT and 16-BIT LIBRARIES</a><br>
! 54: <P>
! 55: From release 8.30, two separate PCRE libraries can be built. The original one
! 56: supports 8-bit character strings, whereas the newer 16-bit library supports
! 57: character strings encoded in 16-bit units. The <b>pcretest</b> program can be
! 58: used to test both libraries. However, it is itself still an 8-bit program,
! 59: reading 8-bit input and writing 8-bit output. When testing the 16-bit library,
! 60: the patterns and data strings are converted to 16-bit format before being
! 61: passed to the PCRE library functions. Results are converted to 8-bit for
! 62: output.
! 63: </P>
! 64: <P>
! 65: References to functions and structures of the form <b>pcre[16]_xx</b> below
! 66: mean "<b>pcre_xx</b> when using the 8-bit library or <b>pcre16_xx</b> when using
! 67: the 16-bit library".
! 68: </P>
! 69: <br><a name="SEC3" href="#TOC1">COMMAND LINE OPTIONS</a><br>
! 70: <P>
! 71: <b>-16</b>
! 72: If both the 8-bit and the 16-bit libraries have been built, this option causes
! 73: the 16-bit library to be used. If only the 16-bit library has been built, this
! 74: is the default (so has no effect). If only the 8-bit library has been built,
! 75: this option causes an error.
! 76: </P>
1.1 misho 77: <P>
78: <b>-b</b>
79: Behave as if each pattern has the <b>/B</b> (show byte code) modifier; the
80: internal form is output after compilation.
81: </P>
82: <P>
83: <b>-C</b>
84: Output the version number of the PCRE library, and all available information
1.1.1.2 ! misho 85: about the optional features that are included, and then exit. All other options
! 86: are ignored.
! 87: </P>
! 88: <P>
! 89: <b>-C</b> <i>option</i>
! 90: Output information about a specific build-time option, then exit. This
! 91: functionality is intended for use in scripts such as <b>RunTest</b>. The
! 92: following options output the value indicated:
! 93: <pre>
! 94: linksize the internal link size (2, 3, or 4)
! 95: newline the default newline setting:
! 96: CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or ANY
! 97: </pre>
! 98: The following options output 1 for true or zero for false:
! 99: <pre>
! 100: jit just-in-time support is available
! 101: pcre16 the 16-bit library was built
! 102: pcre8 the 8-bit library was built
! 103: ucp Unicode property support is available
! 104: utf UTF-8 and/or UTF-16 support is available
! 105: </PRE>
1.1 misho 106: </P>
107: <P>
108: <b>-d</b>
109: Behave as if each pattern has the <b>/D</b> (debug) modifier; the internal
110: form and information about the compiled pattern is output after compilation;
111: <b>-d</b> is equivalent to <b>-b -i</b>.
112: </P>
113: <P>
114: <b>-dfa</b>
115: Behave as if each data line contains the \D escape sequence; this causes the
1.1.1.2 ! misho 116: alternative matching function, <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>, to be used instead of
! 117: the standard <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> function (more detail is given below).
1.1 misho 118: </P>
119: <P>
120: <b>-help</b>
121: Output a brief summary these options and then exit.
122: </P>
123: <P>
124: <b>-i</b>
125: Behave as if each pattern has the <b>/I</b> modifier; information about the
126: compiled pattern is given after compilation.
127: </P>
128: <P>
129: <b>-M</b>
130: Behave as if each data line contains the \M escape sequence; this causes
131: PCRE to discover the minimum MATCH_LIMIT and MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION settings by
1.1.1.2 ! misho 132: calling <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> repeatedly with different limits.
1.1 misho 133: </P>
134: <P>
135: <b>-m</b>
136: Output the size of each compiled pattern after it has been compiled. This is
1.1.1.2 ! misho 137: equivalent to adding <b>/M</b> to each regular expression. The size is given in
! 138: bytes for both libraries.
1.1 misho 139: </P>
140: <P>
141: <b>-o</b> <i>osize</i>
142: Set the number of elements in the output vector that is used when calling
1.1.1.2 ! misho 143: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b> to be <i>osize</i>. The
! 144: default value is 45, which is enough for 14 capturing subexpressions for
! 145: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or 22 different matches for <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>.
! 146: The vector size can be changed for individual matching calls by including \O
! 147: in the data line (see below).
1.1 misho 148: </P>
149: <P>
150: <b>-p</b>
151: Behave as if each pattern has the <b>/P</b> modifier; the POSIX wrapper API is
152: used to call PCRE. None of the other options has any effect when <b>-p</b> is
1.1.1.2 ! misho 153: set. This option can be used only with the 8-bit library.
1.1 misho 154: </P>
155: <P>
156: <b>-q</b>
157: Do not output the version number of <b>pcretest</b> at the start of execution.
158: </P>
159: <P>
160: <b>-S</b> <i>size</i>
161: On Unix-like systems, set the size of the run-time stack to <i>size</i>
162: megabytes.
163: </P>
164: <P>
165: <b>-s</b> or <b>-s+</b>
166: Behave as if each pattern has the <b>/S</b> modifier; in other words, force each
167: pattern to be studied. If <b>-s+</b> is used, the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE flag is
1.1.1.2 ! misho 168: passed to <b>pcre[16]_study()</b>, causing just-in-time optimization to be set
! 169: up if it is available. If the <b>/I</b> or <b>/D</b> option is present on a
! 170: pattern (requesting output about the compiled pattern), information about the
! 171: result of studying is not included when studying is caused only by <b>-s</b> and
! 172: neither <b>-i</b> nor <b>-d</b> is present on the command line. This behaviour
! 173: means that the output from tests that are run with and without <b>-s</b> should
! 174: be identical, except when options that output information about the actual
! 175: running of a match are set.
! 176: <br>
! 177: <br>
! 178: The <b>-M</b>, <b>-t</b>, and <b>-tm</b> options, which give information about
! 179: resources used, are likely to produce different output with and without
! 180: <b>-s</b>. Output may also differ if the <b>/C</b> option is present on an
! 181: individual pattern. This uses callouts to trace the the matching process, and
! 182: this may be different between studied and non-studied patterns. If the pattern
! 183: contains (*MARK) items there may also be differences, for the same reason. The
! 184: <b>-s</b> command line option can be overridden for specific patterns that
! 185: should never be studied (see the <b>/S</b> pattern modifier below).
1.1 misho 186: </P>
187: <P>
188: <b>-t</b>
189: Run each compile, study, and match many times with a timer, and output
190: resulting time per compile or match (in milliseconds). Do not set <b>-m</b> with
191: <b>-t</b>, because you will then get the size output a zillion times, and the
192: timing will be distorted. You can control the number of iterations that are
193: used for timing by following <b>-t</b> with a number (as a separate item on the
194: command line). For example, "-t 1000" would iterate 1000 times. The default is
195: to iterate 500000 times.
196: </P>
197: <P>
198: <b>-tm</b>
199: This is like <b>-t</b> except that it times only the matching phase, not the
200: compile or study phases.
201: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 202: <br><a name="SEC4" href="#TOC1">DESCRIPTION</a><br>
1.1 misho 203: <P>
204: If <b>pcretest</b> is given two filename arguments, it reads from the first and
205: writes to the second. If it is given only one filename argument, it reads from
206: that file and writes to stdout. Otherwise, it reads from stdin and writes to
207: stdout, and prompts for each line of input, using "re>" to prompt for regular
208: expressions, and "data>" to prompt for data lines.
209: </P>
210: <P>
211: When <b>pcretest</b> is built, a configuration option can specify that it should
212: be linked with the <b>libreadline</b> library. When this is done, if the input
213: is from a terminal, it is read using the <b>readline()</b> function. This
214: provides line-editing and history facilities. The output from the <b>-help</b>
215: option states whether or not <b>readline()</b> will be used.
216: </P>
217: <P>
218: The program handles any number of sets of input on a single input file. Each
219: set starts with a regular expression, and continues with any number of data
220: lines to be matched against the pattern.
221: </P>
222: <P>
223: Each data line is matched separately and independently. If you want to do
224: multi-line matches, you have to use the \n escape sequence (or \r or \r\n,
225: etc., depending on the newline setting) in a single line of input to encode the
226: newline sequences. There is no limit on the length of data lines; the input
227: buffer is automatically extended if it is too small.
228: </P>
229: <P>
230: An empty line signals the end of the data lines, at which point a new regular
231: expression is read. The regular expressions are given enclosed in any
232: non-alphanumeric delimiters other than backslash, for example:
233: <pre>
234: /(a|bc)x+yz/
235: </pre>
236: White space before the initial delimiter is ignored. A regular expression may
237: be continued over several input lines, in which case the newline characters are
238: included within it. It is possible to include the delimiter within the pattern
239: by escaping it, for example
240: <pre>
241: /abc\/def/
242: </pre>
243: If you do so, the escape and the delimiter form part of the pattern, but since
244: delimiters are always non-alphanumeric, this does not affect its interpretation.
245: If the terminating delimiter is immediately followed by a backslash, for
246: example,
247: <pre>
248: /abc/\
249: </pre>
250: then a backslash is added to the end of the pattern. This is done to provide a
251: way of testing the error condition that arises if a pattern finishes with a
252: backslash, because
253: <pre>
254: /abc\/
255: </pre>
256: is interpreted as the first line of a pattern that starts with "abc/", causing
257: pcretest to read the next line as a continuation of the regular expression.
258: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 259: <br><a name="SEC5" href="#TOC1">PATTERN MODIFIERS</a><br>
1.1 misho 260: <P>
261: A pattern may be followed by any number of modifiers, which are mostly single
262: characters. Following Perl usage, these are referred to below as, for example,
263: "the <b>/i</b> modifier", even though the delimiter of the pattern need not
264: always be a slash, and no slash is used when writing modifiers. White space may
265: appear between the final pattern delimiter and the first modifier, and between
266: the modifiers themselves.
267: </P>
268: <P>
269: The <b>/i</b>, <b>/m</b>, <b>/s</b>, and <b>/x</b> modifiers set the PCRE_CASELESS,
270: PCRE_MULTILINE, PCRE_DOTALL, or PCRE_EXTENDED options, respectively, when
1.1.1.2 ! misho 271: <b>pcre[16]_compile()</b> is called. These four modifier letters have the same
1.1 misho 272: effect as they do in Perl. For example:
273: <pre>
274: /caseless/i
275: </pre>
276: The following table shows additional modifiers for setting PCRE compile-time
277: options that do not correspond to anything in Perl:
278: <pre>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 279: <b>/8</b> PCRE_UTF8 ) when using the 8-bit
! 280: <b>/?</b> PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK ) library
! 281:
! 282: <b>/8</b> PCRE_UTF16 ) when using the 16-bit
! 283: <b>/?</b> PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK ) library
! 284:
1.1 misho 285: <b>/A</b> PCRE_ANCHORED
286: <b>/C</b> PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT
287: <b>/E</b> PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY
288: <b>/f</b> PCRE_FIRSTLINE
289: <b>/J</b> PCRE_DUPNAMES
290: <b>/N</b> PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE
291: <b>/U</b> PCRE_UNGREEDY
292: <b>/W</b> PCRE_UCP
293: <b>/X</b> PCRE_EXTRA
294: <b>/Y</b> PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
295: <b>/<JS></b> PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT
296: <b>/<cr></b> PCRE_NEWLINE_CR
297: <b>/<lf></b> PCRE_NEWLINE_LF
298: <b>/<crlf></b> PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF
299: <b>/<anycrlf></b> PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF
300: <b>/<any></b> PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY
301: <b>/<bsr_anycrlf></b> PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF
302: <b>/<bsr_unicode></b> PCRE_BSR_UNICODE
303: </pre>
304: The modifiers that are enclosed in angle brackets are literal strings as shown,
305: including the angle brackets, but the letters within can be in either case.
306: This example sets multiline matching with CRLF as the line ending sequence:
307: <pre>
308: /^abc/m<CRLF>
309: </pre>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 310: As well as turning on the PCRE_UTF8/16 option, the <b>/8</b> modifier causes
! 311: all non-printing characters in output strings to be printed using the
! 312: \x{hh...} notation. Otherwise, those less than 0x100 are output in hex without
! 313: the curly brackets.
! 314: </P>
! 315: <P>
! 316: Full details of the PCRE options are given in the
1.1 misho 317: <a href="pcreapi.html"><b>pcreapi</b></a>
318: documentation.
319: </P>
320: <br><b>
321: Finding all matches in a string
322: </b><br>
323: <P>
324: Searching for all possible matches within each subject string can be requested
325: by the <b>/g</b> or <b>/G</b> modifier. After finding a match, PCRE is called
326: again to search the remainder of the subject string. The difference between
327: <b>/g</b> and <b>/G</b> is that the former uses the <i>startoffset</i> argument to
1.1.1.2 ! misho 328: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> to start searching at a new point within the entire
! 329: string (which is in effect what Perl does), whereas the latter passes over a
! 330: shortened substring. This makes a difference to the matching process if the
! 331: pattern begins with a lookbehind assertion (including \b or \B).
1.1 misho 332: </P>
333: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 334: If any call to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> in a <b>/g</b> or <b>/G</b> sequence matches
! 335: an empty string, the next call is done with the PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and
1.1 misho 336: PCRE_ANCHORED flags set in order to search for another, non-empty, match at the
337: same point. If this second match fails, the start offset is advanced, and the
338: normal match is retried. This imitates the way Perl handles such cases when
339: using the <b>/g</b> modifier or the <b>split()</b> function. Normally, the start
340: offset is advanced by one character, but if the newline convention recognizes
341: CRLF as a newline, and the current character is CR followed by LF, an advance
342: of two is used.
343: </P>
344: <br><b>
345: Other modifiers
346: </b><br>
347: <P>
348: There are yet more modifiers for controlling the way <b>pcretest</b>
349: operates.
350: </P>
351: <P>
352: The <b>/+</b> modifier requests that as well as outputting the substring that
353: matched the entire pattern, <b>pcretest</b> should in addition output the
354: remainder of the subject string. This is useful for tests where the subject
355: contains multiple copies of the same substring. If the <b>+</b> modifier appears
356: twice, the same action is taken for captured substrings. In each case the
357: remainder is output on the following line with a plus character following the
358: capture number. Note that this modifier must not immediately follow the /S
359: modifier because /S+ has another meaning.
360: </P>
361: <P>
362: The <b>/=</b> modifier requests that the values of all potential captured
1.1.1.2 ! misho 363: parentheses be output after a match. By default, only those up to the highest
! 364: one actually used in the match are output (corresponding to the return code
! 365: from <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b>). Values in the offsets vector corresponding to
! 366: higher numbers should be set to -1, and these are output as "<unset>". This
! 367: modifier gives a way of checking that this is happening.
1.1 misho 368: </P>
369: <P>
370: The <b>/B</b> modifier is a debugging feature. It requests that <b>pcretest</b>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 371: output a representation of the compiled code after compilation. Normally this
! 372: information contains length and offset values; however, if <b>/Z</b> is also
! 373: present, this data is replaced by spaces. This is a special feature for use in
! 374: the automatic test scripts; it ensures that the same output is generated for
! 375: different internal link sizes.
1.1 misho 376: </P>
377: <P>
378: The <b>/D</b> modifier is a PCRE debugging feature, and is equivalent to
379: <b>/BI</b>, that is, both the <b>/B</b> and the <b>/I</b> modifiers.
380: </P>
381: <P>
382: The <b>/F</b> modifier causes <b>pcretest</b> to flip the byte order of the
1.1.1.2 ! misho 383: 2-byte and 4-byte fields in the compiled pattern. This facility is for testing
! 384: the feature in PCRE that allows it to execute patterns that were compiled on a
! 385: host with a different endianness. This feature is not available when the POSIX
! 386: interface to PCRE is being used, that is, when the <b>/P</b> pattern modifier is
! 387: specified. See also the section about saving and reloading compiled patterns
! 388: below.
1.1 misho 389: </P>
390: <P>
391: The <b>/I</b> modifier requests that <b>pcretest</b> output information about the
392: compiled pattern (whether it is anchored, has a fixed first character, and
1.1.1.2 ! misho 393: so on). It does this by calling <b>pcre[16]_fullinfo()</b> after compiling a
1.1 misho 394: pattern. If the pattern is studied, the results of that are also output.
395: </P>
396: <P>
397: The <b>/K</b> modifier requests <b>pcretest</b> to show names from backtracking
1.1.1.2 ! misho 398: control verbs that are returned from calls to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b>. It causes
! 399: <b>pcretest</b> to create a <b>pcre[16]_extra</b> block if one has not already
! 400: been created by a call to <b>pcre[16]_study()</b>, and to set the
! 401: PCRE_EXTRA_MARK flag and the <b>mark</b> field within it, every time that
! 402: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> is called. If the variable that the <b>mark</b> field
! 403: points to is non-NULL for a match, non-match, or partial match, <b>pcretest</b>
! 404: prints the string to which it points. For a match, this is shown on a line by
! 405: itself, tagged with "MK:". For a non-match it is added to the message.
1.1 misho 406: </P>
407: <P>
408: The <b>/L</b> modifier must be followed directly by the name of a locale, for
409: example,
410: <pre>
411: /pattern/Lfr_FR
412: </pre>
413: For this reason, it must be the last modifier. The given locale is set,
1.1.1.2 ! misho 414: <b>pcre[16]_maketables()</b> is called to build a set of character tables for
! 415: the locale, and this is then passed to <b>pcre[16]_compile()</b> when compiling
! 416: the regular expression. Without an <b>/L</b> (or <b>/T</b>) modifier, NULL is
! 417: passed as the tables pointer; that is, <b>/L</b> applies only to the expression
! 418: on which it appears.
1.1 misho 419: </P>
420: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 421: The <b>/M</b> modifier causes the size in bytes of the memory block used to hold
! 422: the compiled pattern to be output. This does not include the size of the
! 423: <b>pcre[16]</b> block; it is just the actual compiled data. If the pattern is
! 424: successfully studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option, the size of the
! 425: JIT compiled code is also output.
1.1 misho 426: </P>
427: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 428: If the <b>/S</b> modifier appears once, it causes <b>pcre[16]_study()</b> to be
1.1 misho 429: called after the expression has been compiled, and the results used when the
430: expression is matched. If <b>/S</b> appears twice, it suppresses studying, even
431: if it was requested externally by the <b>-s</b> command line option. This makes
432: it possible to specify that certain patterns are always studied, and others are
433: never studied, independently of <b>-s</b>. This feature is used in the test
434: files in a few cases where the output is different when the pattern is studied.
435: </P>
436: <P>
437: If the <b>/S</b> modifier is immediately followed by a + character, the call to
1.1.1.2 ! misho 438: <b>pcre[16]_study()</b> is made with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option,
! 439: requesting just-in-time optimization support if it is available. Note that
! 440: there is also a <b>/+</b> modifier; it must not be given immediately after
! 441: <b>/S</b> because this will be misinterpreted. If JIT studying is successful, it
! 442: will automatically be used when <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> is run, except when
! 443: incompatible run-time options are specified. These include the partial matching
! 444: options; a complete list is given in the
1.1 misho 445: <a href="pcrejit.html"><b>pcrejit</b></a>
446: documentation. See also the <b>\J</b> escape sequence below for a way of
447: setting the size of the JIT stack.
448: </P>
449: <P>
450: The <b>/T</b> modifier must be followed by a single digit. It causes a specific
1.1.1.2 ! misho 451: set of built-in character tables to be passed to <b>pcre[16]_compile()</b>. It
! 452: is used in the standard PCRE tests to check behaviour with different character
1.1 misho 453: tables. The digit specifies the tables as follows:
454: <pre>
455: 0 the default ASCII tables, as distributed in
456: pcre_chartables.c.dist
457: 1 a set of tables defining ISO 8859 characters
458: </pre>
459: In table 1, some characters whose codes are greater than 128 are identified as
460: letters, digits, spaces, etc.
461: </P>
462: <br><b>
463: Using the POSIX wrapper API
464: </b><br>
465: <P>
466: The <b>/P</b> modifier causes <b>pcretest</b> to call PCRE via the POSIX wrapper
1.1.1.2 ! misho 467: API rather than its native API. This supports only the 8-bit library. When
! 468: <b>/P</b> is set, the following modifiers set options for the <b>regcomp()</b>
! 469: function:
1.1 misho 470: <pre>
471: /i REG_ICASE
472: /m REG_NEWLINE
473: /N REG_NOSUB
474: /s REG_DOTALL )
475: /U REG_UNGREEDY ) These options are not part of
476: /W REG_UCP ) the POSIX standard
477: /8 REG_UTF8 )
478: </pre>
479: The <b>/+</b> modifier works as described above. All other modifiers are
480: ignored.
481: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 482: <br><a name="SEC6" href="#TOC1">DATA LINES</a><br>
1.1 misho 483: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 484: Before each data line is passed to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b>, leading and trailing
1.1 misho 485: white space is removed, and it is then scanned for \ escapes. Some of these
486: are pretty esoteric features, intended for checking out some of the more
487: complicated features of PCRE. If you are just testing "ordinary" regular
488: expressions, you probably don't need any of these. The following escapes are
489: recognized:
490: <pre>
491: \a alarm (BEL, \x07)
492: \b backspace (\x08)
493: \e escape (\x27)
494: \f form feed (\x0c)
495: \n newline (\x0a)
496: \qdd set the PCRE_MATCH_LIMIT limit to dd (any number of digits)
497: \r carriage return (\x0d)
498: \t tab (\x09)
499: \v vertical tab (\x0b)
1.1.1.2 ! misho 500: \nnn octal character (up to 3 octal digits); always
! 501: a byte unless > 255 in UTF-8 or 16-bit mode
1.1 misho 502: \xhh hexadecimal byte (up to 2 hex digits)
1.1.1.2 ! misho 503: \x{hh...} hexadecimal character (any number of hex digits)
! 504: \A pass the PCRE_ANCHORED option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 505: \B pass the PCRE_NOTBOL option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 506: \Cdd call pcre[16]_copy_substring() for substring dd after a successful match (number less than 32)
! 507: \Cname call pcre[16]_copy_named_substring() for substring "name" after a successful match (name termin-
1.1 misho 508: ated by next non alphanumeric character)
509: \C+ show the current captured substrings at callout time
510: \C- do not supply a callout function
511: \C!n return 1 instead of 0 when callout number n is reached
512: \C!n!m return 1 instead of 0 when callout number n is reached for the nth time
513: \C*n pass the number n (may be negative) as callout data; this is used as the callout return value
1.1.1.2 ! misho 514: \D use the <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b> match function
! 515: \F only shortest match for <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 516: \Gdd call pcre[16]_get_substring() for substring dd after a successful match (number less than 32)
! 517: \Gname call pcre[16]_get_named_substring() for substring "name" after a successful match (name termin-
1.1 misho 518: ated by next non-alphanumeric character)
519: \Jdd set up a JIT stack of dd kilobytes maximum (any number of digits)
1.1.1.2 ! misho 520: \L call pcre[16]_get_substringlist() after a successful match
1.1 misho 521: \M discover the minimum MATCH_LIMIT and MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION settings
1.1.1.2 ! misho 522: \N pass the PCRE_NOTEMPTY option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>; if used twice, pass the
1.1 misho 523: PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART option
1.1.1.2 ! misho 524: \Odd set the size of the output vector passed to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> to dd (any number of digits)
! 525: \P pass the PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>; if used twice, pass the
1.1 misho 526: PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD option
527: \Qdd set the PCRE_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION limit to dd (any number of digits)
1.1.1.2 ! misho 528: \R pass the PCRE_DFA_RESTART option to <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
1.1 misho 529: \S output details of memory get/free calls during matching
1.1.1.2 ! misho 530: \Y pass the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 531: \Z pass the PCRE_NOTEOL option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 532: \? pass the PCRE_NO_UTF[8|16]_CHECK option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
1.1 misho 533: \>dd start the match at offset dd (optional "-"; then any number of digits); this sets the <i>startoffset</i>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 534: argument for <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 535: \<cr> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_CR option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 536: \<lf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_LF option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 537: \<crlf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 538: \<anycrlf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 539: \<any> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY option to <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> or <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>
! 540: </pre>
! 541: The use of \x{hh...} is not dependent on the use of the <b>/8</b> modifier on
! 542: the pattern. It is recognized always. There may be any number of hexadecimal
! 543: digits inside the braces; invalid values provoke error messages.
! 544: </P>
! 545: <P>
! 546: Note that \xhh specifies one byte rather than one character in UTF-8 mode;
! 547: this makes it possible to construct invalid UTF-8 sequences for testing
! 548: purposes. On the other hand, \x{hh} is interpreted as a UTF-8 character in
! 549: UTF-8 mode, generating more than one byte if the value is greater than 127.
! 550: When testing the 8-bit library not in UTF-8 mode, \x{hh} generates one byte
! 551: for values less than 256, and causes an error for greater values.
! 552: </P>
! 553: <P>
! 554: In UTF-16 mode, all 4-digit \x{hhhh} values are accepted. This makes it
! 555: possible to construct invalid UTF-16 sequences for testing purposes.
1.1 misho 556: </P>
557: <P>
558: The escapes that specify line ending sequences are literal strings, exactly as
559: shown. No more than one newline setting should be present in any data line.
560: </P>
561: <P>
562: A backslash followed by anything else just escapes the anything else. If
563: the very last character is a backslash, it is ignored. This gives a way of
564: passing an empty line as data, since a real empty line terminates the data
565: input.
566: </P>
567: <P>
568: The <b>\J</b> escape provides a way of setting the maximum stack size that is
569: used by the just-in-time optimization code. It is ignored if JIT optimization
570: is not being used. Providing a stack that is larger than the default 32K is
571: necessary only for very complicated patterns.
572: </P>
573: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 574: If \M is present, <b>pcretest</b> calls <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> several times,
! 575: with different values in the <i>match_limit</i> and <i>match_limit_recursion</i>
! 576: fields of the <b>pcre[16]_extra</b> data structure, until it finds the minimum
! 577: numbers for each parameter that allow <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> to complete without
1.1 misho 578: error. Because this is testing a specific feature of the normal interpretive
1.1.1.2 ! misho 579: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> execution, the use of any JIT optimization that might
! 580: have been set up by the <b>/S+</b> qualifier of <b>-s+</b> option is disabled.
1.1 misho 581: </P>
582: <P>
583: The <i>match_limit</i> number is a measure of the amount of backtracking
584: that takes place, and checking it out can be instructive. For most simple
585: matches, the number is quite small, but for patterns with very large numbers of
586: matching possibilities, it can become large very quickly with increasing length
587: of subject string. The <i>match_limit_recursion</i> number is a measure of how
588: much stack (or, if PCRE is compiled with NO_RECURSE, how much heap) memory is
589: needed to complete the match attempt.
590: </P>
591: <P>
592: When \O is used, the value specified may be higher or lower than the size set
593: by the <b>-O</b> command line option (or defaulted to 45); \O applies only to
1.1.1.2 ! misho 594: the call of <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> for the line in which it appears.
1.1 misho 595: </P>
596: <P>
597: If the <b>/P</b> modifier was present on the pattern, causing the POSIX wrapper
598: API to be used, the only option-setting sequences that have any effect are \B,
599: \N, and \Z, causing REG_NOTBOL, REG_NOTEMPTY, and REG_NOTEOL, respectively,
600: to be passed to <b>regexec()</b>.
601: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 602: <br><a name="SEC7" href="#TOC1">THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION</a><br>
1.1 misho 603: <P>
604: By default, <b>pcretest</b> uses the standard PCRE matching function,
1.1.1.2 ! misho 605: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> to match each data line. PCRE also supports an
! 606: alternative matching function, <b>pcre[16]_dfa_test()</b>, which operates in a
1.1 misho 607: different way, and has some restrictions. The differences between the two
608: functions are described in the
609: <a href="pcrematching.html"><b>pcrematching</b></a>
610: documentation.
611: </P>
612: <P>
613: If a data line contains the \D escape sequence, or if the command line
1.1.1.2 ! misho 614: contains the <b>-dfa</b> option, the alternative matching function is used.
1.1 misho 615: This function finds all possible matches at a given point. If, however, the \F
616: escape sequence is present in the data line, it stops after the first match is
617: found. This is always the shortest possible match.
618: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 619: <br><a name="SEC8" href="#TOC1">DEFAULT OUTPUT FROM PCRETEST</a><br>
1.1 misho 620: <P>
621: This section describes the output when the normal matching function,
1.1.1.2 ! misho 622: <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b>, is being used.
1.1 misho 623: </P>
624: <P>
625: When a match succeeds, <b>pcretest</b> outputs the list of captured substrings
1.1.1.2 ! misho 626: that <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> returns, starting with number 0 for the string that
1.1 misho 627: matched the whole pattern. Otherwise, it outputs "No match" when the return is
628: PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH, and "Partial match:" followed by the partially matching
1.1.1.2 ! misho 629: substring when <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b> returns PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL. (Note that
! 630: this is the entire substring that was inspected during the partial match; it
! 631: may include characters before the actual match start if a lookbehind assertion,
1.1 misho 632: \K, \b, or \B was involved.) For any other return, <b>pcretest</b> outputs
633: the PCRE negative error number and a short descriptive phrase. If the error is
1.1.1.2 ! misho 634: a failed UTF string check, the offset of the start of the failing character and
! 635: the reason code are also output, provided that the size of the output vector is
! 636: at least two. Here is an example of an interactive <b>pcretest</b> run.
1.1 misho 637: <pre>
638: $ pcretest
639: PCRE version 8.13 2011-04-30
640:
641: re> /^abc(\d+)/
642: data> abc123
643: 0: abc123
644: 1: 123
645: data> xyz
646: No match
647: </pre>
648: Unset capturing substrings that are not followed by one that is set are not
1.1.1.2 ! misho 649: returned by <b>pcre[16]_exec()</b>, and are not shown by <b>pcretest</b>. In the
1.1 misho 650: following example, there are two capturing substrings, but when the first data
651: line is matched, the second, unset substring is not shown. An "internal" unset
652: substring is shown as "<unset>", as for the second data line.
653: <pre>
654: re> /(a)|(b)/
655: data> a
656: 0: a
657: 1: a
658: data> b
659: 0: b
660: 1: <unset>
661: 2: b
662: </pre>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 663: If the strings contain any non-printing characters, they are output as \xhh
! 664: escapes if the value is less than 256 and UTF mode is not set. Otherwise they
! 665: are output as \x{hh...} escapes. See below for the definition of non-printing
! 666: characters. If the pattern has the <b>/+</b> modifier, the output for substring
! 667: 0 is followed by the the rest of the subject string, identified by "0+" like
! 668: this:
1.1 misho 669: <pre>
670: re> /cat/+
671: data> cataract
672: 0: cat
673: 0+ aract
674: </pre>
675: If the pattern has the <b>/g</b> or <b>/G</b> modifier, the results of successive
676: matching attempts are output in sequence, like this:
677: <pre>
678: re> /\Bi(\w\w)/g
679: data> Mississippi
680: 0: iss
681: 1: ss
682: 0: iss
683: 1: ss
684: 0: ipp
685: 1: pp
686: </pre>
687: "No match" is output only if the first match attempt fails. Here is an example
688: of a failure message (the offset 4 that is specified by \>4 is past the end of
689: the subject string):
690: <pre>
691: re> /xyz/
692: data> xyz\>4
693: Error -24 (bad offset value)
694: </PRE>
695: </P>
696: <P>
697: If any of the sequences <b>\C</b>, <b>\G</b>, or <b>\L</b> are present in a
698: data line that is successfully matched, the substrings extracted by the
699: convenience functions are output with C, G, or L after the string number
700: instead of a colon. This is in addition to the normal full list. The string
701: length (that is, the return from the extraction function) is given in
702: parentheses after each string for <b>\C</b> and <b>\G</b>.
703: </P>
704: <P>
705: Note that whereas patterns can be continued over several lines (a plain ">"
706: prompt is used for continuations), data lines may not. However newlines can be
707: included in data by means of the \n escape (or \r, \r\n, etc., depending on
708: the newline sequence setting).
709: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 710: <br><a name="SEC9" href="#TOC1">OUTPUT FROM THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION</a><br>
1.1 misho 711: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 712: When the alternative matching function, <b>pcre[16]_dfa_exec()</b>, is used (by
1.1 misho 713: means of the \D escape sequence or the <b>-dfa</b> command line option), the
714: output consists of a list of all the matches that start at the first point in
715: the subject where there is at least one match. For example:
716: <pre>
717: re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/
718: data> yellow tangerine\D
719: 0: tangerine
720: 1: tang
721: 2: tan
722: </pre>
723: (Using the normal matching function on this data finds only "tang".) The
724: longest matching string is always given first (and numbered zero). After a
725: PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL return, the output is "Partial match:", followed by the
726: partially matching substring. (Note that this is the entire substring that was
727: inspected during the partial match; it may include characters before the actual
728: match start if a lookbehind assertion, \K, \b, or \B was involved.)
729: </P>
730: <P>
731: If <b>/g</b> is present on the pattern, the search for further matches resumes
732: at the end of the longest match. For example:
733: <pre>
734: re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/g
735: data> yellow tangerine and tangy sultana\D
736: 0: tangerine
737: 1: tang
738: 2: tan
739: 0: tang
740: 1: tan
741: 0: tan
742: </pre>
743: Since the matching function does not support substring capture, the escape
744: sequences that are concerned with captured substrings are not relevant.
745: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 746: <br><a name="SEC10" href="#TOC1">RESTARTING AFTER A PARTIAL MATCH</a><br>
1.1 misho 747: <P>
748: When the alternative matching function has given the PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL return,
749: indicating that the subject partially matched the pattern, you can restart the
750: match with additional subject data by means of the \R escape sequence. For
751: example:
752: <pre>
753: re> /^\d?\d(jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)\d\d$/
754: data> 23ja\P\D
755: Partial match: 23ja
756: data> n05\R\D
757: 0: n05
758: </pre>
759: For further information about partial matching, see the
760: <a href="pcrepartial.html"><b>pcrepartial</b></a>
761: documentation.
762: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 763: <br><a name="SEC11" href="#TOC1">CALLOUTS</a><br>
1.1 misho 764: <P>
765: If the pattern contains any callout requests, <b>pcretest</b>'s callout function
766: is called during matching. This works with both matching functions. By default,
767: the called function displays the callout number, the start and current
768: positions in the text at the callout time, and the next pattern item to be
1.1.1.2 ! misho 769: tested. For example:
1.1 misho 770: <pre>
771: --->pqrabcdef
772: 0 ^ ^ \d
773: </pre>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 774: This output indicates that callout number 0 occurred for a match attempt
! 775: starting at the fourth character of the subject string, when the pointer was at
! 776: the seventh character of the data, and when the next pattern item was \d. Just
! 777: one circumflex is output if the start and current positions are the same.
1.1 misho 778: </P>
779: <P>
780: Callouts numbered 255 are assumed to be automatic callouts, inserted as a
781: result of the <b>/C</b> pattern modifier. In this case, instead of showing the
782: callout number, the offset in the pattern, preceded by a plus, is output. For
783: example:
784: <pre>
785: re> /\d?[A-E]\*/C
786: data> E*
787: --->E*
788: +0 ^ \d?
789: +3 ^ [A-E]
790: +8 ^^ \*
791: +10 ^ ^
792: 0: E*
793: </pre>
794: If a pattern contains (*MARK) items, an additional line is output whenever
795: a change of latest mark is passed to the callout function. For example:
796: <pre>
797: re> /a(*MARK:X)bc/C
798: data> abc
799: --->abc
800: +0 ^ a
801: +1 ^^ (*MARK:X)
802: +10 ^^ b
803: Latest Mark: X
804: +11 ^ ^ c
805: +12 ^ ^
806: 0: abc
807: </pre>
808: The mark changes between matching "a" and "b", but stays the same for the rest
809: of the match, so nothing more is output. If, as a result of backtracking, the
810: mark reverts to being unset, the text "<unset>" is output.
811: </P>
812: <P>
813: The callout function in <b>pcretest</b> returns zero (carry on matching) by
814: default, but you can use a \C item in a data line (as described above) to
815: change this and other parameters of the callout.
816: </P>
817: <P>
818: Inserting callouts can be helpful when using <b>pcretest</b> to check
819: complicated regular expressions. For further information about callouts, see
820: the
821: <a href="pcrecallout.html"><b>pcrecallout</b></a>
822: documentation.
823: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 824: <br><a name="SEC12" href="#TOC1">NON-PRINTING CHARACTERS</a><br>
1.1 misho 825: <P>
826: When <b>pcretest</b> is outputting text in the compiled version of a pattern,
827: bytes other than 32-126 are always treated as non-printing characters are are
828: therefore shown as hex escapes.
829: </P>
830: <P>
831: When <b>pcretest</b> is outputting text that is a matched part of a subject
832: string, it behaves in the same way, unless a different locale has been set for
833: the pattern (using the <b>/L</b> modifier). In this case, the <b>isprint()</b>
834: function to distinguish printing and non-printing characters.
835: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 836: <br><a name="SEC13" href="#TOC1">SAVING AND RELOADING COMPILED PATTERNS</a><br>
1.1 misho 837: <P>
838: The facilities described in this section are not available when the POSIX
839: interface to PCRE is being used, that is, when the <b>/P</b> pattern modifier is
840: specified.
841: </P>
842: <P>
843: When the POSIX interface is not in use, you can cause <b>pcretest</b> to write a
844: compiled pattern to a file, by following the modifiers with > and a file name.
845: For example:
846: <pre>
847: /pattern/im >/some/file
848: </pre>
849: See the
850: <a href="pcreprecompile.html"><b>pcreprecompile</b></a>
851: documentation for a discussion about saving and re-using compiled patterns.
852: Note that if the pattern was successfully studied with JIT optimization, the
853: JIT data cannot be saved.
854: </P>
855: <P>
856: The data that is written is binary. The first eight bytes are the length of the
857: compiled pattern data followed by the length of the optional study data, each
858: written as four bytes in big-endian order (most significant byte first). If
859: there is no study data (either the pattern was not studied, or studying did not
860: return any data), the second length is zero. The lengths are followed by an
861: exact copy of the compiled pattern. If there is additional study data, this
862: (excluding any JIT data) follows immediately after the compiled pattern. After
863: writing the file, <b>pcretest</b> expects to read a new pattern.
864: </P>
865: <P>
866: A saved pattern can be reloaded into <b>pcretest</b> by specifying < and a file
867: name instead of a pattern. The name of the file must not contain a < character,
868: as otherwise <b>pcretest</b> will interpret the line as a pattern delimited by <
869: characters.
870: For example:
871: <pre>
872: re> </some/file
873: Compiled pattern loaded from /some/file
874: No study data
875: </pre>
876: If the pattern was previously studied with the JIT optimization, the JIT
877: information cannot be saved and restored, and so is lost. When the pattern has
878: been loaded, <b>pcretest</b> proceeds to read data lines in the usual way.
879: </P>
880: <P>
881: You can copy a file written by <b>pcretest</b> to a different host and reload it
882: there, even if the new host has opposite endianness to the one on which the
883: pattern was compiled. For example, you can compile on an i86 machine and run on
1.1.1.2 ! misho 884: a SPARC machine. When a pattern is reloaded on a host with different
! 885: endianness, the confirmation message is changed to:
! 886: <pre>
! 887: Compiled pattern (byte-inverted) loaded from /some/file
! 888: </pre>
! 889: The test suite contains some saved pre-compiled patterns with different
! 890: endianness. These are reloaded using "<!" instead of just "<". This suppresses
! 891: the "(byte-inverted)" text so that the output is the same on all hosts. It also
! 892: forces debugging output once the pattern has been reloaded.
1.1 misho 893: </P>
894: <P>
895: File names for saving and reloading can be absolute or relative, but note that
896: the shell facility of expanding a file name that starts with a tilde (~) is not
897: available.
898: </P>
899: <P>
900: The ability to save and reload files in <b>pcretest</b> is intended for testing
901: and experimentation. It is not intended for production use because only a
902: single pattern can be written to a file. Furthermore, there is no facility for
903: supplying custom character tables for use with a reloaded pattern. If the
904: original pattern was compiled with custom tables, an attempt to match a subject
905: string using a reloaded pattern is likely to cause <b>pcretest</b> to crash.
906: Finally, if you attempt to load a file that is not in the correct format, the
907: result is undefined.
908: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 909: <br><a name="SEC14" href="#TOC1">SEE ALSO</a><br>
1.1 misho 910: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 911: <b>pcre</b>(3), <b>pcre16</b>(3), <b>pcreapi</b>(3), <b>pcrecallout</b>(3),
! 912: <b>pcrejit</b>, <b>pcrematching</b>(3), <b>pcrepartial</b>(d),
! 913: <b>pcrepattern</b>(3), <b>pcreprecompile</b>(3).
1.1 misho 914: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 915: <br><a name="SEC15" href="#TOC1">AUTHOR</a><br>
1.1 misho 916: <P>
917: Philip Hazel
918: <br>
919: University Computing Service
920: <br>
921: Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
922: <br>
923: </P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 924: <br><a name="SEC16" href="#TOC1">REVISION</a><br>
1.1 misho 925: <P>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 926: Last updated: 14 January 2012
1.1 misho 927: <br>
1.1.1.2 ! misho 928: Copyright © 1997-2012 University of Cambridge.
1.1 misho 929: <br>
930: <p>
931: Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE index page</a>.
932: </p>
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