--- embedaddon/pcre/doc/pcre.txt 2012/02/21 23:50:25 1.1.1.2 +++ embedaddon/pcre/doc/pcre.txt 2012/10/09 09:19:17 1.1.1.3 @@ -367,47 +367,48 @@ OPTION NAMES There are two new general option names, PCRE_UTF16 and PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK, which correspond to PCRE_UTF8 and PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK in the 8-bit library. In fact, these new options - define the same bits in the options word. + define the same bits in the options word. There is a discussion about + the validity of UTF-16 strings in the pcreunicode page. - For the pcre16_config() function there is an option PCRE_CONFIG_UTF16 - that returns 1 if UTF-16 support is configured, otherwise 0. If this - option is given to pcre_config(), or if the PCRE_CONFIG_UTF8 option is + For the pcre16_config() function there is an option PCRE_CONFIG_UTF16 + that returns 1 if UTF-16 support is configured, otherwise 0. If this + option is given to pcre_config(), or if the PCRE_CONFIG_UTF8 option is given to pcre16_config(), the result is the PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION error. CHARACTER CODES - In 16-bit mode, when PCRE_UTF16 is not set, character values are + In 16-bit mode, when PCRE_UTF16 is not set, character values are treated in the same way as in 8-bit, non UTF-8 mode, except, of course, - that they can range from 0 to 0xffff instead of 0 to 0xff. Character - types for characters less than 0xff can therefore be influenced by the - locale in the same way as before. Characters greater than 0xff have + that they can range from 0 to 0xffff instead of 0 to 0xff. Character + types for characters less than 0xff can therefore be influenced by the + locale in the same way as before. Characters greater than 0xff have only one case, and no "type" (such as letter or digit). - In UTF-16 mode, the character code is Unicode, in the range 0 to - 0x10ffff, with the exception of values in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff - because those are "surrogate" values that are used in pairs to encode + In UTF-16 mode, the character code is Unicode, in the range 0 to + 0x10ffff, with the exception of values in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff + because those are "surrogate" values that are used in pairs to encode values greater than 0xffff. - A UTF-16 string can indicate its endianness by special code knows as a + A UTF-16 string can indicate its endianness by special code knows as a byte-order mark (BOM). The PCRE functions do not handle this, expecting - strings to be in host byte order. A utility function called - pcre16_utf16_to_host_byte_order() is provided to help with this (see + strings to be in host byte order. A utility function called + pcre16_utf16_to_host_byte_order() is provided to help with this (see above). ERROR NAMES - The errors PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF16_OFFSET and PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF16 corre- - spond to their 8-bit counterparts. The error PCRE_ERROR_BADMODE is - given when a compiled pattern is passed to a function that processes - patterns in the other mode, for example, if a pattern compiled with + The errors PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF16_OFFSET and PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF16 corre- + spond to their 8-bit counterparts. The error PCRE_ERROR_BADMODE is + given when a compiled pattern is passed to a function that processes + patterns in the other mode, for example, if a pattern compiled with pcre_compile() is passed to pcre16_exec(). - There are new error codes whose names begin with PCRE_UTF16_ERR for - invalid UTF-16 strings, corresponding to the PCRE_UTF8_ERR codes for - UTF-8 strings that are described in the section entitled "Reason codes - for invalid UTF-8 strings" in the main pcreapi page. The UTF-16 errors + There are new error codes whose names begin with PCRE_UTF16_ERR for + invalid UTF-16 strings, corresponding to the PCRE_UTF8_ERR codes for + UTF-8 strings that are described in the section entitled "Reason codes + for invalid UTF-8 strings" in the main pcreapi page. The UTF-16 errors are: PCRE_UTF16_ERR1 Missing low surrogate at end of string @@ -418,36 +419,36 @@ ERROR NAMES ERROR TEXTS - If there is an error while compiling a pattern, the error text that is - passed back by pcre16_compile() or pcre16_compile2() is still an 8-bit + If there is an error while compiling a pattern, the error text that is + passed back by pcre16_compile() or pcre16_compile2() is still an 8-bit character string, zero-terminated. CALLOUTS - The subject and mark fields in the callout block that is passed to a + The subject and mark fields in the callout block that is passed to a callout function point to 16-bit vectors. TESTING - The pcretest program continues to operate with 8-bit input and output - files, but it can be used for testing the 16-bit library. If it is run + The pcretest program continues to operate with 8-bit input and output + files, but it can be used for testing the 16-bit library. If it is run with the command line option -16, patterns and subject strings are con- verted from 8-bit to 16-bit before being passed to PCRE, and the 16-bit - library functions are used instead of the 8-bit ones. Returned 16-bit + library functions are used instead of the 8-bit ones. Returned 16-bit strings are converted to 8-bit for output. If the 8-bit library was not compiled, pcretest defaults to 16-bit and the -16 option is ignored. - When PCRE is being built, the RunTest script that is called by "make - check" uses the pcretest -C option to discover which of the 8-bit and + When PCRE is being built, the RunTest script that is called by "make + check" uses the pcretest -C option to discover which of the 8-bit and 16-bit libraries has been built, and runs the tests appropriately. NOT SUPPORTED IN 16-BIT MODE Not all the features of the 8-bit library are available with the 16-bit - library. The C++ and POSIX wrapper functions support only the 8-bit + library. The C++ and POSIX wrapper functions support only the 8-bit library, and the pcregrep program is at present 8-bit only. @@ -460,7 +461,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 08 January 2012 + Last updated: 14 April 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -567,9 +568,9 @@ UTF-8 and UTF-16 SUPPORT tern compiling functions. If you set --enable-utf when compiling in an EBCDIC environment, PCRE - expects its input to be either ASCII or UTF-8 (depending on the runtime - option). It is not possible to support both EBCDIC and UTF-8 codes in - the same version of the library. Consequently, --enable-utf and + expects its input to be either ASCII or UTF-8 (depending on the run- + time option). It is not possible to support both EBCDIC and UTF-8 codes + in the same version of the library. Consequently, --enable-utf and --enable-ebcdic are mutually exclusive. @@ -760,9 +761,9 @@ CREATING CHARACTER TABLES AT BUILD TIME to the configure command, the distributed tables are no longer used. Instead, a program called dftables is compiled and run. This outputs the source for new set of tables, created in the default locale of your - C runtime system. (This method of replacing the tables does not work if - you are cross compiling, because dftables is run on the local host. If - you need to create alternative tables when cross compiling, you will + C run-time system. (This method of replacing the tables does not work + if you are cross compiling, because dftables is run on the local host. + If you need to create alternative tables when cross compiling, you will have to do so "by hand".) @@ -1310,7 +1311,7 @@ NEWLINES feed) character, the two-character sequence CRLF, any of the three pre- ceding, or any Unicode newline sequence. The Unicode newline sequences are the three just mentioned, plus the single characters VT (vertical - tab, U+000B), FF (formfeed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line + tab, U+000B), FF (form feed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS (paragraph separator, U+2029). Each of the first three conventions is used by at least one operating @@ -1511,8 +1512,8 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN different parts of the pattern, the contents of the options argument specifies their settings at the start of compilation and execution. The PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_BSR_xxx, PCRE_NEWLINE_xxx, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, and - PCRE_NO_START_OPT options can be set at the time of matching as well as - at compile time. + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE options can be set at the time of matching as + well as at compile time. If errptr is NULL, pcre_compile() returns NULL immediately. Otherwise, if compilation of a pattern fails, pcre_compile() returns NULL, and @@ -1624,8 +1625,8 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN PCRE_EXTENDED - If this bit is set, whitespace data characters in the pattern are - totally ignored except when escaped or inside a character class. White- + If this bit is set, white space data characters in the pattern are + totally ignored except when escaped or inside a character class. White space does not include the VT character (code 11). In addition, charac- ters between an unescaped # outside a character class and the next new- line, inclusive, are also ignored. This is equivalent to Perl's /x @@ -1641,7 +1642,7 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN This option makes it possible to include comments inside complicated patterns. Note, however, that this applies only to data characters. - Whitespace characters may never appear within special character + White space characters may never appear within special character sequences in a pattern, for example within the sequence (?( that intro- duces a conditional subpattern. @@ -1726,7 +1727,7 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN that any of the three preceding sequences should be recognized. Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY specifies that any Unicode newline sequence should be recognized. The Unicode newline sequences are the three just mentioned, - plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (formfeed, + plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form feed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS (paragraph separator, U+2029). For the 8-bit library, the last two are recognized only in UTF-8 mode. @@ -1740,7 +1741,7 @@ COMPILING A PATTERN cause an error. The only time that a line break in a pattern is specially recognized - when compiling is when PCRE_EXTENDED is set. CR and LF are whitespace + when compiling is when PCRE_EXTENDED is set. CR and LF are white space characters, and so are ignored in this mode. Also, an unescaped # out- side a character class indicates a comment that lasts until after the next line break sequence. In other circumstances, line break sequences @@ -1893,6 +1894,8 @@ COMPILATION ERROR CODES 72 too many forward references 73 disallowed Unicode code point (>= 0xd800 && <= 0xdfff) 74 invalid UTF-16 string (specifically UTF-16) + 75 name is too long in (*MARK), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), or (*THEN) + 76 character value in \u.... sequence is too large The numbers 32 and 10000 in errors 48 and 49 are defaults; different values may be used if the limits were changed when PCRE was built. @@ -1921,13 +1924,19 @@ STUDYING A PATTERN wants to pass any of the other fields to pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(), it must set up its own pcre_extra block. - The second argument of pcre_study() contains option bits. There is only - one option: PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE. If this is set, and the just-in- - time compiler is available, the pattern is further compiled into - machine code that executes much faster than the pcre_exec() matching - function. If the just-in-time compiler is not available, this option is - ignored. All other bits in the options argument must be zero. + The second argument of pcre_study() contains option bits. There are + three options: + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_HARD_COMPILE + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_SOFT_COMPILE + + If any of these are set, and the just-in-time compiler is available, + the pattern is further compiled into machine code that executes much + faster than the pcre_exec() interpretive matching function. If the + just-in-time compiler is not available, these options are ignored. All + other bits in the options argument must be zero. + JIT compilation is a heavyweight optimization. It can take some time for patterns to be analyzed, and for one-off matches and simple pat- terns the benefit of faster execution might be offset by a much slower @@ -1947,8 +1956,8 @@ STUDYING A PATTERN the study data by calling pcre_free_study(). This function was added to the API for release 8.20. For earlier versions, the memory could be freed with pcre_free(), just like the pattern itself. This will still - work in cases where PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE is not used, but it is - advisable to change to the new function when convenient. + work in cases where JIT optimization is not used, but it is advisable + to change to the new function when convenient. This is a typical way in which pcre_study() is used (except that in a real application there should be tests for errors): @@ -1981,71 +1990,70 @@ STUDYING A PATTERN which to start matching. (In 16-bit mode, the bitmap is used for 16-bit values less than 256.) - These two optimizations apply to both pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec(). - However, they are not used by pcre_exec() if pcre_study() is called - with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option, and just-in-time compiling is - successful. The optimizations can be disabled by setting the - PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option when calling pcre_exec() or - pcre_dfa_exec(). You might want to do this if your pattern contains - callouts or (*MARK) (which cannot be handled by the JIT compiler), and - you want to make use of these facilities in cases where matching fails. - See the discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE below. + These two optimizations apply to both pcre_exec() and pcre_dfa_exec(), + and the information is also used by the JIT compiler. The optimiza- + tions can be disabled by setting the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option when + calling pcre_exec() or pcre_dfa_exec(), but if this is done, JIT execu- + tion is also disabled. You might want to do this if your pattern con- + tains callouts or (*MARK) and you want to make use of these facilities + in cases where matching fails. See the discussion of + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE below. LOCALE SUPPORT - PCRE handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are - letters, digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed - by character value. When running in UTF-8 mode, this applies only to - characters with codes less than 128. By default, higher-valued codes + PCRE handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are + letters, digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed + by character value. When running in UTF-8 mode, this applies only to + characters with codes less than 128. By default, higher-valued codes never match escapes such as \w or \d, but they can be tested with \p if - PCRE is built with Unicode character property support. Alternatively, - the PCRE_UCP option can be set at compile time; this causes \w and + PCRE is built with Unicode character property support. Alternatively, + the PCRE_UCP option can be set at compile time; this causes \w and friends to use Unicode property support instead of built-in tables. The use of locales with Unicode is discouraged. If you are handling charac- - ters with codes greater than 128, you should either use UTF-8 and Uni- + ters with codes greater than 128, you should either use UTF-8 and Uni- code, or use locales, but not try to mix the two. - PCRE contains an internal set of tables that are used when the final - argument of pcre_compile() is NULL. These are sufficient for many + PCRE contains an internal set of tables that are used when the final + argument of pcre_compile() is NULL. These are sufficient for many applications. Normally, the internal tables recognize only ASCII char- acters. However, when PCRE is built, it is possible to cause the inter- nal tables to be rebuilt in the default "C" locale of the local system, which may cause them to be different. - The internal tables can always be overridden by tables supplied by the + The internal tables can always be overridden by tables supplied by the application that calls PCRE. These may be created in a different locale - from the default. As more and more applications change to using Uni- + from the default. As more and more applications change to using Uni- code, the need for this locale support is expected to die away. - External tables are built by calling the pcre_maketables() function, - which has no arguments, in the relevant locale. The result can then be - passed to pcre_compile() or pcre_exec() as often as necessary. For - example, to build and use tables that are appropriate for the French - locale (where accented characters with values greater than 128 are + External tables are built by calling the pcre_maketables() function, + which has no arguments, in the relevant locale. The result can then be + passed to pcre_compile() or pcre_exec() as often as necessary. For + example, to build and use tables that are appropriate for the French + locale (where accented characters with values greater than 128 are treated as letters), the following code could be used: setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "fr_FR"); tables = pcre_maketables(); re = pcre_compile(..., tables); - The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; + The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; if you are using Windows, the name for the French locale is "french". - When pcre_maketables() runs, the tables are built in memory that is - obtained via pcre_malloc. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure - that the memory containing the tables remains available for as long as + When pcre_maketables() runs, the tables are built in memory that is + obtained via pcre_malloc. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure + that the memory containing the tables remains available for as long as it is needed. The pointer that is passed to pcre_compile() is saved with the compiled - pattern, and the same tables are used via this pointer by pcre_study() + pattern, and the same tables are used via this pointer by pcre_study() and normally also by pcre_exec(). Thus, by default, for any single pat- tern, compilation, studying and matching all happen in the same locale, but different patterns can be compiled in different locales. - It is possible to pass a table pointer or NULL (indicating the use of - the internal tables) to pcre_exec(). Although not intended for this - purpose, this facility could be used to match a pattern in a different + It is possible to pass a table pointer or NULL (indicating the use of + the internal tables) to pcre_exec(). Although not intended for this + purpose, this facility could be used to match a pattern in a different locale from the one in which it was compiled. Passing table pointers at run time is discussed below in the section on matching a pattern. @@ -2055,15 +2063,15 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN int pcre_fullinfo(const pcre *code, const pcre_extra *extra, int what, void *where); - The pcre_fullinfo() function returns information about a compiled pat- - tern. It replaces the pcre_info() function, which was removed from the + The pcre_fullinfo() function returns information about a compiled pat- + tern. It replaces the pcre_info() function, which was removed from the library at version 8.30, after more than 10 years of obsolescence. - The first argument for pcre_fullinfo() is a pointer to the compiled - pattern. The second argument is the result of pcre_study(), or NULL if - the pattern was not studied. The third argument specifies which piece - of information is required, and the fourth argument is a pointer to a - variable to receive the data. The yield of the function is zero for + The first argument for pcre_fullinfo() is a pointer to the compiled + pattern. The second argument is the result of pcre_study(), or NULL if + the pattern was not studied. The third argument specifies which piece + of information is required, and the fourth argument is a pointer to a + variable to receive the data. The yield of the function is zero for success, or one of the following negative numbers: PCRE_ERROR_NULL the argument code was NULL @@ -2073,10 +2081,10 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN endianness PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION the value of what was invalid - The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as - an simple check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. The endi- + The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as + an simple check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. The endi- anness error can occur if a compiled pattern is saved and reloaded on a - different host. Here is a typical call of pcre_fullinfo(), to obtain + different host. Here is a typical call of pcre_fullinfo(), to obtain the length of the compiled pattern: int rc; @@ -2087,99 +2095,106 @@ INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN PCRE_INFO_SIZE, /* what is required */ &length); /* where to put the data */ - The possible values for the third argument are defined in pcre.h, and + The possible values for the third argument are defined in pcre.h, and are as follows: PCRE_INFO_BACKREFMAX - Return the number of the highest back reference in the pattern. The - fourth argument should point to an int variable. Zero is returned if + Return the number of the highest back reference in the pattern. The + fourth argument should point to an int variable. Zero is returned if there are no back references. PCRE_INFO_CAPTURECOUNT - Return the number of capturing subpatterns in the pattern. The fourth + Return the number of capturing subpatterns in the pattern. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. PCRE_INFO_DEFAULT_TABLES - Return a pointer to the internal default character tables within PCRE. - The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * variable. This + Return a pointer to the internal default character tables within PCRE. + The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * variable. This information call is provided for internal use by the pcre_study() func- - tion. External callers can cause PCRE to use its internal tables by + tion. External callers can cause PCRE to use its internal tables by passing a NULL table pointer. PCRE_INFO_FIRSTBYTE Return information about the first data unit of any matched string, for - a non-anchored pattern. (The name of this option refers to the 8-bit - library, where data units are bytes.) The fourth argument should point + a non-anchored pattern. (The name of this option refers to the 8-bit + library, where data units are bytes.) The fourth argument should point to an int variable. - If there is a fixed first value, for example, the letter "c" from a - pattern such as (cat|cow|coyote), its value is returned. In the 8-bit - library, the value is always less than 256; in the 16-bit library the + If there is a fixed first value, for example, the letter "c" from a + pattern such as (cat|cow|coyote), its value is returned. In the 8-bit + library, the value is always less than 256; in the 16-bit library the value can be up to 0xffff. If there is no fixed first value, and if either - (a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every + (a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every branch starts with "^", or (b) every branch of the pattern starts with ".*" and PCRE_DOTALL is not set (if it were set, the pattern would be anchored), - -1 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start - of a subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise + -1 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start + of a subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise -2 is returned. For anchored patterns, -2 is returned. PCRE_INFO_FIRSTTABLE - If the pattern was studied, and this resulted in the construction of a - 256-bit table indicating a fixed set of values for the first data unit - in any matching string, a pointer to the table is returned. Otherwise - NULL is returned. The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char + If the pattern was studied, and this resulted in the construction of a + 256-bit table indicating a fixed set of values for the first data unit + in any matching string, a pointer to the table is returned. Otherwise + NULL is returned. The fourth argument should point to an unsigned char * variable. PCRE_INFO_HASCRORLF - Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF - characters, otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int - variable. An explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or + Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF + characters, otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int + variable. An explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or \r or \n. PCRE_INFO_JCHANGED - Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, - otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. (?J) + Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, + otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. (?J) and (?-J) set and unset the local PCRE_DUPNAMES option, respectively. PCRE_INFO_JIT - Return 1 if the pattern was studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE - option, and just-in-time compiling was successful. The fourth argument - should point to an int variable. A return value of 0 means that JIT - support is not available in this version of PCRE, or that the pattern - was not studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option, or that the JIT - compiler could not handle this particular pattern. See the pcrejit doc- - umentation for details of what can and cannot be handled. + Return 1 if the pattern was studied with one of the JIT options, and + just-in-time compiling was successful. The fourth argument should point + to an int variable. A return value of 0 means that JIT support is not + available in this version of PCRE, or that the pattern was not studied + with a JIT option, or that the JIT compiler could not handle this par- + ticular pattern. See the pcrejit documentation for details of what can + and cannot be handled. PCRE_INFO_JITSIZE - If the pattern was successfully studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE - option, return the size of the JIT compiled code, otherwise return - zero. The fourth argument should point to a size_t variable. + If the pattern was successfully studied with a JIT option, return the + size of the JIT compiled code, otherwise return zero. The fourth argu- + ment should point to a size_t variable. PCRE_INFO_LASTLITERAL - Return the value of the rightmost literal data unit that must exist in - any matched string, other than at its start, if such a value has been + Return the value of the rightmost literal data unit that must exist in + any matched string, other than at its start, if such a value has been recorded. The fourth argument should point to an int variable. If there is no such value, -1 is returned. For anchored patterns, a last literal - value is recorded only if it follows something of variable length. For + value is recorded only if it follows something of variable length. For example, for the pattern /^a\d+z\d+/ the returned value is "z", but for /^a\dz\d/ the returned value is -1. + PCRE_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND + + Return the number of characters (NB not bytes) in the longest lookbe- + hind assertion in the pattern. Note that the simple assertions \b and + \B require a one-character lookbehind. This information is useful when + doing multi-segment matching using the partial matching facilities. + PCRE_INFO_MINLENGTH If the pattern was studied and a minimum length for matching subject @@ -2383,22 +2398,22 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION In the 16-bit version of this structure, the mark field has type "PCRE_UCHAR16 **". - The flags field is a bitmap that specifies which of the other fields - are set. The flag bits are: + The flags field is used to specify which of the other fields are set. + The flag bits are: - PCRE_EXTRA_STUDY_DATA + PCRE_EXTRA_CALLOUT_DATA PCRE_EXTRA_EXECUTABLE_JIT + PCRE_EXTRA_MARK PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION - PCRE_EXTRA_CALLOUT_DATA + PCRE_EXTRA_STUDY_DATA PCRE_EXTRA_TABLES - PCRE_EXTRA_MARK Other flag bits should be set to zero. The study_data field and some- times the executable_jit field are set in the pcre_extra block that is returned by pcre_study(), together with the appropriate flag bits. You should not set these yourself, but you may add to the block by setting - the other fields and their corresponding flag bits. + other fields and their corresponding flag bits. The match_limit field provides a means of preventing PCRE from using up a vast amount of resources when running patterns that are not going to @@ -2414,11 +2429,11 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION zero for each position in the subject string. When pcre_exec() is called with a pattern that was successfully studied - with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option, the way that the matching is - executed is entirely different. However, there is still the possibility - of runaway matching that goes on for a very long time, and so the - match_limit value is also used in this case (but in a different way) to - limit how long the matching can continue. + with a JIT option, the way that the matching is executed is entirely + different. However, there is still the possibility of runaway matching + that goes on for a very long time, and so the match_limit value is also + used in this case (but in a different way) to limit how long the match- + ing can continue. The default value for the limit can be set when PCRE is built; the default default is 10 million, which handles all but the most extreme @@ -2436,8 +2451,8 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION Limiting the recursion depth limits the amount of machine stack that can be used, or, when PCRE has been compiled to use memory on the heap instead of the stack, the amount of heap memory that can be used. This - limit is not relevant, and is ignored, if the pattern was successfully - studied with PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE. + limit is not relevant, and is ignored, when matching is done using JIT + compiled code. The default value for match_limit_recursion can be set when PCRE is built; the default default is the same value as the default for @@ -2477,15 +2492,15 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION The unused bits of the options argument for pcre_exec() must be zero. The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEWLINE_xxx, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, - PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT, and - PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD. + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, and + PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. - If the pattern was successfully studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE - option, the only supported options for JIT execution are - PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, and - PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART. Note in particular that partial matching is not - supported. If an unsupported option is used, JIT execution is disabled - and the normal interpretive code in pcre_exec() is run. + If the pattern was successfully studied with one of the just-in-time + (JIT) compile options, the only supported options for JIT execution are + PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, + PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, and PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. If an + unsupported option is used, JIT execution is disabled and the normal + interpretive code in pcre_exec() is run. PCRE_ANCHORED @@ -2608,7 +2623,9 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION where the result is "no match", the callouts do occur, and that items such as (*COMMIT) and (*MARK) are considered at every possible starting position in the subject string. If PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is set at - compile time, it cannot be unset at matching time. + compile time, it cannot be unset at matching time. The use of + PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE disables JIT execution; when it is set, matching + is always done using interpretively. Setting PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE can change the outcome of a matching operation. Consider the pattern @@ -2642,200 +2659,201 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION When PCRE_UTF8 is set at compile time, the validity of the subject as a UTF-8 string is automatically checked when pcre_exec() is subsequently - called. The value of startoffset is also checked to ensure that it - points to the start of a UTF-8 character. There is a discussion about - the validity of UTF-8 strings in the pcreunicode page. If an invalid - sequence of bytes is found, pcre_exec() returns the error + called. The entire string is checked before any other processing takes + place. The value of startoffset is also checked to ensure that it + points to the start of a UTF-8 character. There is a discussion about + the validity of UTF-8 strings in the pcreunicode page. If an invalid + sequence of bytes is found, pcre_exec() returns the error PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or, if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated character at the end of the subject, PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8. In - both cases, information about the precise nature of the error may also - be returned (see the descriptions of these errors in the section enti- - tled Error return values from pcre_exec() below). If startoffset con- + both cases, information about the precise nature of the error may also + be returned (see the descriptions of these errors in the section enti- + tled Error return values from pcre_exec() below). If startoffset con- tains a value that does not point to the start of a UTF-8 character (or to the end of the subject), PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET is returned. - If you already know that your subject is valid, and you want to skip - these checks for performance reasons, you can set the - PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option when calling pcre_exec(). You might want to - do this for the second and subsequent calls to pcre_exec() if you are - making repeated calls to find all the matches in a single subject - string. However, you should be sure that the value of startoffset - points to the start of a character (or the end of the subject). When + If you already know that your subject is valid, and you want to skip + these checks for performance reasons, you can set the + PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option when calling pcre_exec(). You might want to + do this for the second and subsequent calls to pcre_exec() if you are + making repeated calls to find all the matches in a single subject + string. However, you should be sure that the value of startoffset + points to the start of a character (or the end of the subject). When PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK is set, the effect of passing an invalid string as a - subject or an invalid value of startoffset is undefined. Your program + subject or an invalid value of startoffset is undefined. Your program may crash. PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT - These options turn on the partial matching feature. For backwards com- - patibility, PCRE_PARTIAL is a synonym for PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. A partial - match occurs if the end of the subject string is reached successfully, - but there are not enough subject characters to complete the match. If + These options turn on the partial matching feature. For backwards com- + patibility, PCRE_PARTIAL is a synonym for PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. A partial + match occurs if the end of the subject string is reached successfully, + but there are not enough subject characters to complete the match. If this happens when PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT (but not PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD) is set, - matching continues by testing any remaining alternatives. Only if no - complete match can be found is PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL returned instead of - PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH. In other words, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT says that the - caller is prepared to handle a partial match, but only if no complete + matching continues by testing any remaining alternatives. Only if no + complete match can be found is PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL returned instead of + PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH. In other words, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT says that the + caller is prepared to handle a partial match, but only if no complete match can be found. - If PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, it overrides PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. In this - case, if a partial match is found, pcre_exec() immediately returns - PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL, without considering any other alternatives. In - other words, when PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, a partial match is consid- + If PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, it overrides PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. In this + case, if a partial match is found, pcre_exec() immediately returns + PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL, without considering any other alternatives. In + other words, when PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, a partial match is consid- ered to be more important that an alternative complete match. - In both cases, the portion of the string that was inspected when the + In both cases, the portion of the string that was inspected when the partial match was found is set as the first matching string. There is a - more detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with + more detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with examples, in the pcrepartial documentation. The string to be matched by pcre_exec() - The subject string is passed to pcre_exec() as a pointer in subject, a - length in bytes in length, and a starting byte offset in startoffset. - If this is negative or greater than the length of the subject, - pcre_exec() returns PCRE_ERROR_BADOFFSET. When the starting offset is - zero, the search for a match starts at the beginning of the subject, + The subject string is passed to pcre_exec() as a pointer in subject, a + length in bytes in length, and a starting byte offset in startoffset. + If this is negative or greater than the length of the subject, + pcre_exec() returns PCRE_ERROR_BADOFFSET. When the starting offset is + zero, the search for a match starts at the beginning of the subject, and this is by far the most common case. In UTF-8 mode, the byte offset - must point to the start of a UTF-8 character (or the end of the sub- - ject). Unlike the pattern string, the subject may contain binary zero + must point to the start of a UTF-8 character (or the end of the sub- + ject). Unlike the pattern string, the subject may contain binary zero bytes. - A non-zero starting offset is useful when searching for another match - in the same subject by calling pcre_exec() again after a previous suc- - cess. Setting startoffset differs from just passing over a shortened - string and setting PCRE_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern that begins + A non-zero starting offset is useful when searching for another match + in the same subject by calling pcre_exec() again after a previous suc- + cess. Setting startoffset differs from just passing over a shortened + string and setting PCRE_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern that begins with any kind of lookbehind. For example, consider the pattern \Biss\B - which finds occurrences of "iss" in the middle of words. (\B matches - only if the current position in the subject is not a word boundary.) - When applied to the string "Mississipi" the first call to pcre_exec() - finds the first occurrence. If pcre_exec() is called again with just - the remainder of the subject, namely "issipi", it does not match, + which finds occurrences of "iss" in the middle of words. (\B matches + only if the current position in the subject is not a word boundary.) + When applied to the string "Mississipi" the first call to pcre_exec() + finds the first occurrence. If pcre_exec() is called again with just + the remainder of the subject, namely "issipi", it does not match, because \B is always false at the start of the subject, which is deemed - to be a word boundary. However, if pcre_exec() is passed the entire + to be a word boundary. However, if pcre_exec() is passed the entire string again, but with startoffset set to 4, it finds the second occur- - rence of "iss" because it is able to look behind the starting point to + rence of "iss" because it is able to look behind the starting point to discover that it is preceded by a letter. - Finding all the matches in a subject is tricky when the pattern can + Finding all the matches in a subject is tricky when the pattern can match an empty string. It is possible to emulate Perl's /g behaviour by - first trying the match again at the same offset, with the - PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and PCRE_ANCHORED options, and then if that - fails, advancing the starting offset and trying an ordinary match + first trying the match again at the same offset, with the + PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and PCRE_ANCHORED options, and then if that + fails, advancing the starting offset and trying an ordinary match again. There is some code that demonstrates how to do this in the pcre- demo sample program. In the most general case, you have to check to see - if the newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, and if so, and + if the newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, and if so, and the current character is CR followed by LF, advance the starting offset by two characters instead of one. - If a non-zero starting offset is passed when the pattern is anchored, + If a non-zero starting offset is passed when the pattern is anchored, one attempt to match at the given offset is made. This can only succeed - if the pattern does not require the match to be at the start of the + if the pattern does not require the match to be at the start of the subject. How pcre_exec() returns captured substrings - In general, a pattern matches a certain portion of the subject, and in - addition, further substrings from the subject may be picked out by - parts of the pattern. Following the usage in Jeffrey Friedl's book, - this is called "capturing" in what follows, and the phrase "capturing - subpattern" is used for a fragment of a pattern that picks out a sub- - string. PCRE supports several other kinds of parenthesized subpattern + In general, a pattern matches a certain portion of the subject, and in + addition, further substrings from the subject may be picked out by + parts of the pattern. Following the usage in Jeffrey Friedl's book, + this is called "capturing" in what follows, and the phrase "capturing + subpattern" is used for a fragment of a pattern that picks out a sub- + string. PCRE supports several other kinds of parenthesized subpattern that do not cause substrings to be captured. Captured substrings are returned to the caller via a vector of integers - whose address is passed in ovector. The number of elements in the vec- - tor is passed in ovecsize, which must be a non-negative number. Note: + whose address is passed in ovector. The number of elements in the vec- + tor is passed in ovecsize, which must be a non-negative number. Note: this argument is NOT the size of ovector in bytes. - The first two-thirds of the vector is used to pass back captured sub- - strings, each substring using a pair of integers. The remaining third - of the vector is used as workspace by pcre_exec() while matching cap- - turing subpatterns, and is not available for passing back information. - The number passed in ovecsize should always be a multiple of three. If + The first two-thirds of the vector is used to pass back captured sub- + strings, each substring using a pair of integers. The remaining third + of the vector is used as workspace by pcre_exec() while matching cap- + turing subpatterns, and is not available for passing back information. + The number passed in ovecsize should always be a multiple of three. If it is not, it is rounded down. - When a match is successful, information about captured substrings is - returned in pairs of integers, starting at the beginning of ovector, - and continuing up to two-thirds of its length at the most. The first - element of each pair is set to the byte offset of the first character - in a substring, and the second is set to the byte offset of the first - character after the end of a substring. Note: these values are always + When a match is successful, information about captured substrings is + returned in pairs of integers, starting at the beginning of ovector, + and continuing up to two-thirds of its length at the most. The first + element of each pair is set to the byte offset of the first character + in a substring, and the second is set to the byte offset of the first + character after the end of a substring. Note: these values are always byte offsets, even in UTF-8 mode. They are not character counts. - The first pair of integers, ovector[0] and ovector[1], identify the - portion of the subject string matched by the entire pattern. The next - pair is used for the first capturing subpattern, and so on. The value + The first pair of integers, ovector[0] and ovector[1], identify the + portion of the subject string matched by the entire pattern. The next + pair is used for the first capturing subpattern, and so on. The value returned by pcre_exec() is one more than the highest numbered pair that - has been set. For example, if two substrings have been captured, the - returned value is 3. If there are no capturing subpatterns, the return + has been set. For example, if two substrings have been captured, the + returned value is 3. If there are no capturing subpatterns, the return value from a successful match is 1, indicating that just the first pair of offsets has been set. If a capturing subpattern is matched repeatedly, it is the last portion of the string that it matched that is returned. - If the vector is too small to hold all the captured substring offsets, + If the vector is too small to hold all the captured substring offsets, it is used as far as possible (up to two-thirds of its length), and the - function returns a value of zero. If neither the actual string matched - not any captured substrings are of interest, pcre_exec() may be called - with ovector passed as NULL and ovecsize as zero. However, if the pat- - tern contains back references and the ovector is not big enough to - remember the related substrings, PCRE has to get additional memory for - use during matching. Thus it is usually advisable to supply an ovector + function returns a value of zero. If neither the actual string matched + nor any captured substrings are of interest, pcre_exec() may be called + with ovector passed as NULL and ovecsize as zero. However, if the pat- + tern contains back references and the ovector is not big enough to + remember the related substrings, PCRE has to get additional memory for + use during matching. Thus it is usually advisable to supply an ovector of reasonable size. - There are some cases where zero is returned (indicating vector over- - flow) when in fact the vector is exactly the right size for the final + There are some cases where zero is returned (indicating vector over- + flow) when in fact the vector is exactly the right size for the final match. For example, consider the pattern (a)(?:(b)c|bd) - If a vector of 6 elements (allowing for only 1 captured substring) is + If a vector of 6 elements (allowing for only 1 captured substring) is given with subject string "abd", pcre_exec() will try to set the second captured string, thereby recording a vector overflow, before failing to - match "c" and backing up to try the second alternative. The zero - return, however, does correctly indicate that the maximum number of + match "c" and backing up to try the second alternative. The zero + return, however, does correctly indicate that the maximum number of slots (namely 2) have been filled. In similar cases where there is tem- - porary overflow, but the final number of used slots is actually less + porary overflow, but the final number of used slots is actually less than the maximum, a non-zero value is returned. The pcre_fullinfo() function can be used to find out how many capturing - subpatterns there are in a compiled pattern. The smallest size for - ovector that will allow for n captured substrings, in addition to the + subpatterns there are in a compiled pattern. The smallest size for + ovector that will allow for n captured substrings, in addition to the offsets of the substring matched by the whole pattern, is (n+1)*3. - It is possible for capturing subpattern number n+1 to match some part + It is possible for capturing subpattern number n+1 to match some part of the subject when subpattern n has not been used at all. For example, - if the string "abc" is matched against the pattern (a|(z))(bc) the + if the string "abc" is matched against the pattern (a|(z))(bc) the return from the function is 4, and subpatterns 1 and 3 are matched, but - 2 is not. When this happens, both values in the offset pairs corre- + 2 is not. When this happens, both values in the offset pairs corre- sponding to unused subpatterns are set to -1. - Offset values that correspond to unused subpatterns at the end of the - expression are also set to -1. For example, if the string "abc" is - matched against the pattern (abc)(x(yz)?)? subpatterns 2 and 3 are not - matched. The return from the function is 2, because the highest used - capturing subpattern number is 1, and the offsets for for the second - and third capturing subpatterns (assuming the vector is large enough, + Offset values that correspond to unused subpatterns at the end of the + expression are also set to -1. For example, if the string "abc" is + matched against the pattern (abc)(x(yz)?)? subpatterns 2 and 3 are not + matched. The return from the function is 2, because the highest used + capturing subpattern number is 1, and the offsets for for the second + and third capturing subpatterns (assuming the vector is large enough, of course) are set to -1. - Note: Elements in the first two-thirds of ovector that do not corre- - spond to capturing parentheses in the pattern are never changed. That - is, if a pattern contains n capturing parentheses, no more than ovec- - tor[0] to ovector[2n+1] are set by pcre_exec(). The other elements (in + Note: Elements in the first two-thirds of ovector that do not corre- + spond to capturing parentheses in the pattern are never changed. That + is, if a pattern contains n capturing parentheses, no more than ovec- + tor[0] to ovector[2n+1] are set by pcre_exec(). The other elements (in the first two-thirds) retain whatever values they previously had. - Some convenience functions are provided for extracting the captured + Some convenience functions are provided for extracting the captured substrings as separate strings. These are described below. Error return values from pcre_exec() - If pcre_exec() fails, it returns a negative number. The following are + If pcre_exec() fails, it returns a negative number. The following are defined in the header file: PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH (-1) @@ -2844,7 +2862,7 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_NULL (-2) - Either code or subject was passed as NULL, or ovector was NULL and + Either code or subject was passed as NULL, or ovector was NULL and ovecsize was not zero. PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION (-3) @@ -2853,82 +2871,82 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_BADMAGIC (-4) - PCRE stores a 4-byte "magic number" at the start of the compiled code, + PCRE stores a 4-byte "magic number" at the start of the compiled code, to catch the case when it is passed a junk pointer and to detect when a pattern that was compiled in an environment of one endianness is run in - an environment with the other endianness. This is the error that PCRE + an environment with the other endianness. This is the error that PCRE gives when the magic number is not present. PCRE_ERROR_UNKNOWN_OPCODE (-5) While running the pattern match, an unknown item was encountered in the - compiled pattern. This error could be caused by a bug in PCRE or by + compiled pattern. This error could be caused by a bug in PCRE or by overwriting of the compiled pattern. PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY (-6) - If a pattern contains back references, but the ovector that is passed + If a pattern contains back references, but the ovector that is passed to pcre_exec() is not big enough to remember the referenced substrings, - PCRE gets a block of memory at the start of matching to use for this - purpose. If the call via pcre_malloc() fails, this error is given. The + PCRE gets a block of memory at the start of matching to use for this + purpose. If the call via pcre_malloc() fails, this error is given. The memory is automatically freed at the end of matching. - This error is also given if pcre_stack_malloc() fails in pcre_exec(). - This can happen only when PCRE has been compiled with --disable-stack- + This error is also given if pcre_stack_malloc() fails in pcre_exec(). + This can happen only when PCRE has been compiled with --disable-stack- for-recursion. PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) - This error is used by the pcre_copy_substring(), pcre_get_substring(), + This error is used by the pcre_copy_substring(), pcre_get_substring(), and pcre_get_substring_list() functions (see below). It is never returned by pcre_exec(). PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT (-8) - The backtracking limit, as specified by the match_limit field in a - pcre_extra structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the description + The backtracking limit, as specified by the match_limit field in a + pcre_extra structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the description above. PCRE_ERROR_CALLOUT (-9) This error is never generated by pcre_exec() itself. It is provided for - use by callout functions that want to yield a distinctive error code. + use by callout functions that want to yield a distinctive error code. See the pcrecallout documentation for details. PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 (-10) - A string that contains an invalid UTF-8 byte sequence was passed as a - subject, and the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set. If the size of - the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the byte offset to the - start of the the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the first ele- - ment, and a reason code is placed in the second element. The reason + A string that contains an invalid UTF-8 byte sequence was passed as a + subject, and the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set. If the size of + the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the byte offset to the + start of the the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the first ele- + ment, and a reason code is placed in the second element. The reason codes are listed in the following section. For backward compatibility, - if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated UTF-8 char- - acter at the end of the subject (reason codes 1 to 5), + if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a truncated UTF-8 char- + acter at the end of the subject (reason codes 1 to 5), PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8 is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET (-11) - The UTF-8 byte sequence that was passed as a subject was checked and - found to be valid (the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set), but the - value of startoffset did not point to the beginning of a UTF-8 charac- + The UTF-8 byte sequence that was passed as a subject was checked and + found to be valid (the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set), but the + value of startoffset did not point to the beginning of a UTF-8 charac- ter or the end of the subject. PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL (-12) - The subject string did not match, but it did match partially. See the + The subject string did not match, but it did match partially. See the pcrepartial documentation for details of partial matching. PCRE_ERROR_BADPARTIAL (-13) - This code is no longer in use. It was formerly returned when the - PCRE_PARTIAL option was used with a compiled pattern containing items - that were not supported for partial matching. From release 8.00 + This code is no longer in use. It was formerly returned when the + PCRE_PARTIAL option was used with a compiled pattern containing items + that were not supported for partial matching. From release 8.00 onwards, there are no restrictions on partial matching. PCRE_ERROR_INTERNAL (-14) - An unexpected internal error has occurred. This error could be caused + An unexpected internal error has occurred. This error could be caused by a bug in PCRE or by overwriting of the compiled pattern. PCRE_ERROR_BADCOUNT (-15) @@ -2938,7 +2956,7 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_RECURSIONLIMIT (-21) The internal recursion limit, as specified by the match_limit_recursion - field in a pcre_extra structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the + field in a pcre_extra structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the description above. PCRE_ERROR_BADNEWLINE (-23) @@ -2952,55 +2970,55 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8 (-25) - This error is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 when the subject - string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character and the PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD - option is set. Information about the failure is returned as for - PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. It is in fact sufficient to detect this case, but - this special error code for PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD precedes the implementa- - tion of returned information; it is retained for backwards compatibil- + This error is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 when the subject + string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character and the PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD + option is set. Information about the failure is returned as for + PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. It is in fact sufficient to detect this case, but + this special error code for PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD precedes the implementa- + tion of returned information; it is retained for backwards compatibil- ity. PCRE_ERROR_RECURSELOOP (-26) This error is returned when pcre_exec() detects a recursion loop within - the pattern. Specifically, it means that either the whole pattern or a - subpattern has been called recursively for the second time at the same + the pattern. Specifically, it means that either the whole pattern or a + subpattern has been called recursively for the second time at the same position in the subject string. Some simple patterns that might do this - are detected and faulted at compile time, but more complicated cases, + are detected and faulted at compile time, but more complicated cases, in particular mutual recursions between two different subpatterns, can- not be detected until run time. PCRE_ERROR_JIT_STACKLIMIT (-27) - This error is returned when a pattern that was successfully studied - using the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option is being matched, but the mem- - ory available for the just-in-time processing stack is not large - enough. See the pcrejit documentation for more details. + This error is returned when a pattern that was successfully studied + using a JIT compile option is being matched, but the memory available + for the just-in-time processing stack is not large enough. See the + pcrejit documentation for more details. - PCRE_ERROR_BADMODE (-28) + PCRE_ERROR_BADMODE (-28) This error is given if a pattern that was compiled by the 8-bit library is passed to a 16-bit library function, or vice versa. - PCRE_ERROR_BADENDIANNESS (-29) + PCRE_ERROR_BADENDIANNESS (-29) - This error is given if a pattern that was compiled and saved is - reloaded on a host with different endianness. The utility function + This error is given if a pattern that was compiled and saved is + reloaded on a host with different endianness. The utility function pcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order() can be used to convert such a pattern so that it runs on the new host. - Error numbers -16 to -20 and -22 are not used by pcre_exec(). + Error numbers -16 to -20, -22, and -30 are not used by pcre_exec(). Reason codes for invalid UTF-8 strings - This section applies only to the 8-bit library. The corresponding + This section applies only to the 8-bit library. The corresponding information for the 16-bit library is given in the pcre16 page. When pcre_exec() returns either PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or PCRE_ERROR_SHORT- - UTF8, and the size of the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the - offset of the start of the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the + UTF8, and the size of the output vector (ovecsize) is at least 2, the + offset of the start of the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in the first output vector element (ovector[0]) and a reason code is placed in - the second element (ovector[1]). The reason codes are given names in + the second element (ovector[1]). The reason codes are given names in the pcre.h header file: PCRE_UTF8_ERR1 @@ -3009,10 +3027,10 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_UTF8_ERR4 PCRE_UTF8_ERR5 - The string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character; the code specifies - how many bytes are missing (1 to 5). Although RFC 3629 restricts UTF-8 - characters to be no longer than 4 bytes, the encoding scheme (origi- - nally defined by RFC 2279) allows for up to 6 bytes, and this is + The string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character; the code specifies + how many bytes are missing (1 to 5). Although RFC 3629 restricts UTF-8 + characters to be no longer than 4 bytes, the encoding scheme (origi- + nally defined by RFC 2279) allows for up to 6 bytes, and this is checked first; hence the possibility of 4 or 5 missing bytes. PCRE_UTF8_ERR6 @@ -3022,24 +3040,24 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_UTF8_ERR10 The two most significant bits of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th byte of - the character do not have the binary value 0b10 (that is, either the + the character do not have the binary value 0b10 (that is, either the most significant bit is 0, or the next bit is 1). PCRE_UTF8_ERR11 PCRE_UTF8_ERR12 - A character that is valid by the RFC 2279 rules is either 5 or 6 bytes + A character that is valid by the RFC 2279 rules is either 5 or 6 bytes long; these code points are excluded by RFC 3629. PCRE_UTF8_ERR13 - A 4-byte character has a value greater than 0x10fff; these code points + A 4-byte character has a value greater than 0x10fff; these code points are excluded by RFC 3629. PCRE_UTF8_ERR14 - A 3-byte character has a value in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff; this - range of code points are reserved by RFC 3629 for use with UTF-16, and + A 3-byte character has a value in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff; this + range of code points are reserved by RFC 3629 for use with UTF-16, and so are excluded from UTF-8. PCRE_UTF8_ERR15 @@ -3048,21 +3066,21 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION PCRE_UTF8_ERR18 PCRE_UTF8_ERR19 - A 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-byte character is "overlong", that is, it codes - for a value that can be represented by fewer bytes, which is invalid. - For example, the two bytes 0xc0, 0xae give the value 0x2e, whose cor- + A 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-byte character is "overlong", that is, it codes + for a value that can be represented by fewer bytes, which is invalid. + For example, the two bytes 0xc0, 0xae give the value 0x2e, whose cor- rect coding uses just one byte. PCRE_UTF8_ERR20 The two most significant bits of the first byte of a character have the - binary value 0b10 (that is, the most significant bit is 1 and the sec- - ond is 0). Such a byte can only validly occur as the second or subse- + binary value 0b10 (that is, the most significant bit is 1 and the sec- + ond is 0). Such a byte can only validly occur as the second or subse- quent byte of a multi-byte character. PCRE_UTF8_ERR21 - The first byte of a character has the value 0xfe or 0xff. These values + The first byte of a character has the value 0xfe or 0xff. These values can never occur in a valid UTF-8 string. @@ -3079,78 +3097,78 @@ EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NUMBER int pcre_get_substring_list(const char *subject, int *ovector, int stringcount, const char ***listptr); - Captured substrings can be accessed directly by using the offsets - returned by pcre_exec() in ovector. For convenience, the functions + Captured substrings can be accessed directly by using the offsets + returned by pcre_exec() in ovector. For convenience, the functions pcre_copy_substring(), pcre_get_substring(), and pcre_get_sub- - string_list() are provided for extracting captured substrings as new, - separate, zero-terminated strings. These functions identify substrings - by number. The next section describes functions for extracting named + string_list() are provided for extracting captured substrings as new, + separate, zero-terminated strings. These functions identify substrings + by number. The next section describes functions for extracting named substrings. - A substring that contains a binary zero is correctly extracted and has - a further zero added on the end, but the result is not, of course, a C - string. However, you can process such a string by referring to the - length that is returned by pcre_copy_substring() and pcre_get_sub- + A substring that contains a binary zero is correctly extracted and has + a further zero added on the end, but the result is not, of course, a C + string. However, you can process such a string by referring to the + length that is returned by pcre_copy_substring() and pcre_get_sub- string(). Unfortunately, the interface to pcre_get_substring_list() is - not adequate for handling strings containing binary zeros, because the + not adequate for handling strings containing binary zeros, because the end of the final string is not independently indicated. - The first three arguments are the same for all three of these func- - tions: subject is the subject string that has just been successfully + The first three arguments are the same for all three of these func- + tions: subject is the subject string that has just been successfully matched, ovector is a pointer to the vector of integer offsets that was passed to pcre_exec(), and stringcount is the number of substrings that - were captured by the match, including the substring that matched the + were captured by the match, including the substring that matched the entire regular expression. This is the value returned by pcre_exec() if - it is greater than zero. If pcre_exec() returned zero, indicating that - it ran out of space in ovector, the value passed as stringcount should + it is greater than zero. If pcre_exec() returned zero, indicating that + it ran out of space in ovector, the value passed as stringcount should be the number of elements in the vector divided by three. - The functions pcre_copy_substring() and pcre_get_substring() extract a - single substring, whose number is given as stringnumber. A value of - zero extracts the substring that matched the entire pattern, whereas - higher values extract the captured substrings. For pcre_copy_sub- - string(), the string is placed in buffer, whose length is given by - buffersize, while for pcre_get_substring() a new block of memory is - obtained via pcre_malloc, and its address is returned via stringptr. - The yield of the function is the length of the string, not including + The functions pcre_copy_substring() and pcre_get_substring() extract a + single substring, whose number is given as stringnumber. A value of + zero extracts the substring that matched the entire pattern, whereas + higher values extract the captured substrings. For pcre_copy_sub- + string(), the string is placed in buffer, whose length is given by + buffersize, while for pcre_get_substring() a new block of memory is + obtained via pcre_malloc, and its address is returned via stringptr. + The yield of the function is the length of the string, not including the terminating zero, or one of these error codes: PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY (-6) - The buffer was too small for pcre_copy_substring(), or the attempt to + The buffer was too small for pcre_copy_substring(), or the attempt to get memory failed for pcre_get_substring(). PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) There is no substring whose number is stringnumber. - The pcre_get_substring_list() function extracts all available sub- - strings and builds a list of pointers to them. All this is done in a + The pcre_get_substring_list() function extracts all available sub- + strings and builds a list of pointers to them. All this is done in a single block of memory that is obtained via pcre_malloc. The address of - the memory block is returned via listptr, which is also the start of - the list of string pointers. The end of the list is marked by a NULL - pointer. The yield of the function is zero if all went well, or the + the memory block is returned via listptr, which is also the start of + the list of string pointers. The end of the list is marked by a NULL + pointer. The yield of the function is zero if all went well, or the error code PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY (-6) if the attempt to get the memory block failed. - When any of these functions encounter a substring that is unset, which - can happen when capturing subpattern number n+1 matches some part of - the subject, but subpattern n has not been used at all, they return an + When any of these functions encounter a substring that is unset, which + can happen when capturing subpattern number n+1 matches some part of + the subject, but subpattern n has not been used at all, they return an empty string. This can be distinguished from a genuine zero-length sub- - string by inspecting the appropriate offset in ovector, which is nega- + string by inspecting the appropriate offset in ovector, which is nega- tive for unset substrings. - The two convenience functions pcre_free_substring() and pcre_free_sub- - string_list() can be used to free the memory returned by a previous + The two convenience functions pcre_free_substring() and pcre_free_sub- + string_list() can be used to free the memory returned by a previous call of pcre_get_substring() or pcre_get_substring_list(), respec- - tively. They do nothing more than call the function pointed to by - pcre_free, which of course could be called directly from a C program. - However, PCRE is used in some situations where it is linked via a spe- - cial interface to another programming language that cannot use - pcre_free directly; it is for these cases that the functions are pro- + tively. They do nothing more than call the function pointed to by + pcre_free, which of course could be called directly from a C program. + However, PCRE is used in some situations where it is linked via a spe- + cial interface to another programming language that cannot use + pcre_free directly; it is for these cases that the functions are pro- vided. @@ -3169,7 +3187,7 @@ EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NAME int stringcount, const char *stringname, const char **stringptr); - To extract a substring by name, you first have to find associated num- + To extract a substring by name, you first have to find associated num- ber. For example, for this pattern (a+)b(?\d+)... @@ -3178,35 +3196,35 @@ EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NAME be unique (PCRE_DUPNAMES was not set), you can find the number from the name by calling pcre_get_stringnumber(). The first argument is the com- piled pattern, and the second is the name. The yield of the function is - the subpattern number, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if there is no + the subpattern number, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if there is no subpattern of that name. Given the number, you can extract the substring directly, or use one of the functions described in the previous section. For convenience, there are also two functions that do the whole job. - Most of the arguments of pcre_copy_named_substring() and - pcre_get_named_substring() are the same as those for the similarly - named functions that extract by number. As these are described in the - previous section, they are not re-described here. There are just two + Most of the arguments of pcre_copy_named_substring() and + pcre_get_named_substring() are the same as those for the similarly + named functions that extract by number. As these are described in the + previous section, they are not re-described here. There are just two differences: - First, instead of a substring number, a substring name is given. Sec- + First, instead of a substring number, a substring name is given. Sec- ond, there is an extra argument, given at the start, which is a pointer - to the compiled pattern. This is needed in order to gain access to the + to the compiled pattern. This is needed in order to gain access to the name-to-number translation table. - These functions call pcre_get_stringnumber(), and if it succeeds, they - then call pcre_copy_substring() or pcre_get_substring(), as appropri- - ate. NOTE: If PCRE_DUPNAMES is set and there are duplicate names, the + These functions call pcre_get_stringnumber(), and if it succeeds, they + then call pcre_copy_substring() or pcre_get_substring(), as appropri- + ate. NOTE: If PCRE_DUPNAMES is set and there are duplicate names, the behaviour may not be what you want (see the next section). Warning: If the pattern uses the (?| feature to set up multiple subpat- - terns with the same number, as described in the section on duplicate - subpattern numbers in the pcrepattern page, you cannot use names to - distinguish the different subpatterns, because names are not included - in the compiled code. The matching process uses only numbers. For this - reason, the use of different names for subpatterns of the same number + terns with the same number, as described in the section on duplicate + subpattern numbers in the pcrepattern page, you cannot use names to + distinguish the different subpatterns, because names are not included + in the compiled code. The matching process uses only numbers. For this + reason, the use of different names for subpatterns of the same number causes an error at compile time. @@ -3215,76 +3233,76 @@ DUPLICATE SUBPATTERN NAMES int pcre_get_stringtable_entries(const pcre *code, const char *name, char **first, char **last); - When a pattern is compiled with the PCRE_DUPNAMES option, names for - subpatterns are not required to be unique. (Duplicate names are always - allowed for subpatterns with the same number, created by using the (?| - feature. Indeed, if such subpatterns are named, they are required to + When a pattern is compiled with the PCRE_DUPNAMES option, names for + subpatterns are not required to be unique. (Duplicate names are always + allowed for subpatterns with the same number, created by using the (?| + feature. Indeed, if such subpatterns are named, they are required to use the same names.) Normally, patterns with duplicate names are such that in any one match, - only one of the named subpatterns participates. An example is shown in + only one of the named subpatterns participates. An example is shown in the pcrepattern documentation. - When duplicates are present, pcre_copy_named_substring() and - pcre_get_named_substring() return the first substring corresponding to - the given name that is set. If none are set, PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING - (-7) is returned; no data is returned. The pcre_get_stringnumber() - function returns one of the numbers that are associated with the name, + When duplicates are present, pcre_copy_named_substring() and + pcre_get_named_substring() return the first substring corresponding to + the given name that is set. If none are set, PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING + (-7) is returned; no data is returned. The pcre_get_stringnumber() + function returns one of the numbers that are associated with the name, but it is not defined which it is. - If you want to get full details of all captured substrings for a given - name, you must use the pcre_get_stringtable_entries() function. The + If you want to get full details of all captured substrings for a given + name, you must use the pcre_get_stringtable_entries() function. The first argument is the compiled pattern, and the second is the name. The - third and fourth are pointers to variables which are updated by the + third and fourth are pointers to variables which are updated by the function. After it has run, they point to the first and last entries in - the name-to-number table for the given name. The function itself - returns the length of each entry, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if - there are none. The format of the table is described above in the sec- - tion entitled Information about a pattern above. Given all the rele- - vant entries for the name, you can extract each of their numbers, and + the name-to-number table for the given name. The function itself + returns the length of each entry, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if + there are none. The format of the table is described above in the sec- + tion entitled Information about a pattern above. Given all the rele- + vant entries for the name, you can extract each of their numbers, and hence the captured data, if any. FINDING ALL POSSIBLE MATCHES - The traditional matching function uses a similar algorithm to Perl, + The traditional matching function uses a similar algorithm to Perl, which stops when it finds the first match, starting at a given point in - the subject. If you want to find all possible matches, or the longest - possible match, consider using the alternative matching function (see - below) instead. If you cannot use the alternative function, but still - need to find all possible matches, you can kludge it up by making use + the subject. If you want to find all possible matches, or the longest + possible match, consider using the alternative matching function (see + below) instead. If you cannot use the alternative function, but still + need to find all possible matches, you can kludge it up by making use of the callout facility, which is described in the pcrecallout documen- tation. What you have to do is to insert a callout right at the end of the pat- - tern. When your callout function is called, extract and save the cur- - rent matched substring. Then return 1, which forces pcre_exec() to - backtrack and try other alternatives. Ultimately, when it runs out of + tern. When your callout function is called, extract and save the cur- + rent matched substring. Then return 1, which forces pcre_exec() to + backtrack and try other alternatives. Ultimately, when it runs out of matches, pcre_exec() will yield PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH. OBTAINING AN ESTIMATE OF STACK USAGE - Matching certain patterns using pcre_exec() can use a lot of process - stack, which in certain environments can be rather limited in size. - Some users find it helpful to have an estimate of the amount of stack - that is used by pcre_exec(), to help them set recursion limits, as - described in the pcrestack documentation. The estimate that is output + Matching certain patterns using pcre_exec() can use a lot of process + stack, which in certain environments can be rather limited in size. + Some users find it helpful to have an estimate of the amount of stack + that is used by pcre_exec(), to help them set recursion limits, as + described in the pcrestack documentation. The estimate that is output by pcretest when called with the -m and -C options is obtained by call- - ing pcre_exec with the values NULL, NULL, NULL, -999, and -999 for its + ing pcre_exec with the values NULL, NULL, NULL, -999, and -999 for its first five arguments. - Normally, if its first argument is NULL, pcre_exec() immediately - returns the negative error code PCRE_ERROR_NULL, but with this special - combination of arguments, it returns instead a negative number whose - absolute value is the approximate stack frame size in bytes. (A nega- - tive number is used so that it is clear that no match has happened.) - The value is approximate because in some cases, recursive calls to + Normally, if its first argument is NULL, pcre_exec() immediately + returns the negative error code PCRE_ERROR_NULL, but with this special + combination of arguments, it returns instead a negative number whose + absolute value is the approximate stack frame size in bytes. (A nega- + tive number is used so that it is clear that no match has happened.) + The value is approximate because in some cases, recursive calls to pcre_exec() occur when there are one or two additional variables on the stack. - If PCRE has been compiled to use the heap instead of the stack for - recursion, the value returned is the size of each block that is + If PCRE has been compiled to use the heap instead of the stack for + recursion, the value returned is the size of each block that is obtained from the heap. @@ -3295,26 +3313,26 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE ALTERNATIVE FUNCTION int options, int *ovector, int ovecsize, int *workspace, int wscount); - The function pcre_dfa_exec() is called to match a subject string - against a compiled pattern, using a matching algorithm that scans the - subject string just once, and does not backtrack. This has different - characteristics to the normal algorithm, and is not compatible with - Perl. Some of the features of PCRE patterns are not supported. Never- - theless, there are times when this kind of matching can be useful. For - a discussion of the two matching algorithms, and a list of features - that pcre_dfa_exec() does not support, see the pcrematching documenta- + The function pcre_dfa_exec() is called to match a subject string + against a compiled pattern, using a matching algorithm that scans the + subject string just once, and does not backtrack. This has different + characteristics to the normal algorithm, and is not compatible with + Perl. Some of the features of PCRE patterns are not supported. Never- + theless, there are times when this kind of matching can be useful. For + a discussion of the two matching algorithms, and a list of features + that pcre_dfa_exec() does not support, see the pcrematching documenta- tion. - The arguments for the pcre_dfa_exec() function are the same as for + The arguments for the pcre_dfa_exec() function are the same as for pcre_exec(), plus two extras. The ovector argument is used in a differ- - ent way, and this is described below. The other common arguments are - used in the same way as for pcre_exec(), so their description is not + ent way, and this is described below. The other common arguments are + used in the same way as for pcre_exec(), so their description is not repeated here. - The two additional arguments provide workspace for the function. The - workspace vector should contain at least 20 elements. It is used for + The two additional arguments provide workspace for the function. The + workspace vector should contain at least 20 elements. It is used for keeping track of multiple paths through the pattern tree. More - workspace will be needed for patterns and subjects where there are a + workspace will be needed for patterns and subjects where there are a lot of potential matches. Here is an example of a simple call to pcre_dfa_exec(): @@ -3336,55 +3354,55 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE ALTERNATIVE FUNCTION Option bits for pcre_dfa_exec() - The unused bits of the options argument for pcre_dfa_exec() must be - zero. The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEW- + The unused bits of the options argument for pcre_dfa_exec() must be + zero. The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEW- LINE_xxx, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, - PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF, - PCRE_BSR_UNICODE, PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, PCRE_PAR- - TIAL_SOFT, PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST, and PCRE_DFA_RESTART. All but the last - four of these are exactly the same as for pcre_exec(), so their + PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF, + PCRE_BSR_UNICODE, PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, PCRE_PAR- + TIAL_SOFT, PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST, and PCRE_DFA_RESTART. All but the last + four of these are exactly the same as for pcre_exec(), so their description is not repeated here. PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT - These have the same general effect as they do for pcre_exec(), but the - details are slightly different. When PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set for - pcre_dfa_exec(), it returns PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the sub- - ject is reached and there is still at least one matching possibility + These have the same general effect as they do for pcre_exec(), but the + details are slightly different. When PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set for + pcre_dfa_exec(), it returns PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the sub- + ject is reached and there is still at least one matching possibility that requires additional characters. This happens even if some complete matches have also been found. When PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT is set, the return code PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH is converted into PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end - of the subject is reached, there have been no complete matches, but - there is still at least one matching possibility. The portion of the - string that was inspected when the longest partial match was found is - set as the first matching string in both cases. There is a more - detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with exam- + of the subject is reached, there have been no complete matches, but + there is still at least one matching possibility. The portion of the + string that was inspected when the longest partial match was found is + set as the first matching string in both cases. There is a more + detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with exam- ples, in the pcrepartial documentation. PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST - Setting the PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST option causes the matching algorithm to + Setting the PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST option causes the matching algorithm to stop as soon as it has found one match. Because of the way the alterna- - tive algorithm works, this is necessarily the shortest possible match + tive algorithm works, this is necessarily the shortest possible match at the first possible matching point in the subject string. PCRE_DFA_RESTART When pcre_dfa_exec() returns a partial match, it is possible to call it - again, with additional subject characters, and have it continue with - the same match. The PCRE_DFA_RESTART option requests this action; when - it is set, the workspace and wscount options must reference the same - vector as before because data about the match so far is left in them + again, with additional subject characters, and have it continue with + the same match. The PCRE_DFA_RESTART option requests this action; when + it is set, the workspace and wscount options must reference the same + vector as before because data about the match so far is left in them after a partial match. There is more discussion of this facility in the pcrepartial documentation. Successful returns from pcre_dfa_exec() - When pcre_dfa_exec() succeeds, it may have matched more than one sub- + When pcre_dfa_exec() succeeds, it may have matched more than one sub- string in the subject. Note, however, that all the matches from one run - of the function start at the same point in the subject. The shorter - matches are all initial substrings of the longer matches. For example, + of the function start at the same point in the subject. The shorter + matches are all initial substrings of the longer matches. For example, if the pattern <.*> @@ -3399,60 +3417,67 @@ MATCHING A PATTERN: THE ALTERNATIVE FUNCTION - On success, the yield of the function is a number greater than zero, - which is the number of matched substrings. The substrings themselves - are returned in ovector. Each string uses two elements; the first is - the offset to the start, and the second is the offset to the end. In - fact, all the strings have the same start offset. (Space could have - been saved by giving this only once, but it was decided to retain some - compatibility with the way pcre_exec() returns data, even though the + On success, the yield of the function is a number greater than zero, + which is the number of matched substrings. The substrings themselves + are returned in ovector. Each string uses two elements; the first is + the offset to the start, and the second is the offset to the end. In + fact, all the strings have the same start offset. (Space could have + been saved by giving this only once, but it was decided to retain some + compatibility with the way pcre_exec() returns data, even though the meaning of the strings is different.) The strings are returned in reverse order of length; that is, the long- - est matching string is given first. If there were too many matches to - fit into ovector, the yield of the function is zero, and the vector is - filled with the longest matches. Unlike pcre_exec(), pcre_dfa_exec() + est matching string is given first. If there were too many matches to + fit into ovector, the yield of the function is zero, and the vector is + filled with the longest matches. Unlike pcre_exec(), pcre_dfa_exec() can use the entire ovector for returning matched strings. Error returns from pcre_dfa_exec() - The pcre_dfa_exec() function returns a negative number when it fails. - Many of the errors are the same as for pcre_exec(), and these are - described above. There are in addition the following errors that are + The pcre_dfa_exec() function returns a negative number when it fails. + Many of the errors are the same as for pcre_exec(), and these are + described above. There are in addition the following errors that are specific to pcre_dfa_exec(): PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UITEM (-16) - This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() encounters an item in the pat- - tern that it does not support, for instance, the use of \C or a back + This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() encounters an item in the pat- + tern that it does not support, for instance, the use of \C or a back reference. PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UCOND (-17) - This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() encounters a condition item - that uses a back reference for the condition, or a test for recursion + This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() encounters a condition item + that uses a back reference for the condition, or a test for recursion in a specific group. These are not supported. PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UMLIMIT (-18) - This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() is called with an extra block - that contains a setting of the match_limit or match_limit_recursion - fields. This is not supported (these fields are meaningless for DFA + This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() is called with an extra block + that contains a setting of the match_limit or match_limit_recursion + fields. This is not supported (these fields are meaningless for DFA matching). PCRE_ERROR_DFA_WSSIZE (-19) - This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() runs out of space in the + This return is given if pcre_dfa_exec() runs out of space in the workspace vector. PCRE_ERROR_DFA_RECURSE (-20) - When a recursive subpattern is processed, the matching function calls - itself recursively, using private vectors for ovector and workspace. - This error is given if the output vector is not large enough. This + When a recursive subpattern is processed, the matching function calls + itself recursively, using private vectors for ovector and workspace. + This error is given if the output vector is not large enough. This should be extremely rare, as a vector of size 1000 is used. + PCRE_ERROR_DFA_BADRESTART (-30) + When pcre_dfa_exec() is called with the PCRE_DFA_RESTART option, some + plausibility checks are made on the contents of the workspace, which + should contain data about the previous partial match. If any of these + checks fail, this error is given. + + SEE ALSO pcre16(3), pcrebuild(3), pcrecallout(3), pcrecpp(3)(3), pcrematch- @@ -3469,7 +3494,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 21 January 2012 + Last updated: 17 June 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -3761,9 +3786,17 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL There is a discussion that explains these differences in more detail in the section on recursion differences from Perl in the pcrepattern page. - 11. If (*THEN) is present in a group that is called as a subroutine, - its action is limited to that group, even if the group does not contain - any | characters. + 11. If any of the backtracking control verbs are used in an assertion + or in a subpattern that is called as a subroutine (whether or not + recursively), their effect is confined to that subpattern; it does not + extend to the surrounding pattern. This is not always the case in Perl. + In particular, if (*THEN) is present in a group that is called as a + subroutine, its action is limited to that group, even if the group does + not contain any | characters. There is one exception to this: the name + from a *(MARK), (*PRUNE), or (*THEN) that is encountered in a success- + ful positive assertion is passed back when a match succeeds (compare + capturing parentheses in assertions). Note that such subpatterns are + processed as anchored at the point where they are tested. 12. There are some differences that are concerned with the settings of captured strings when part of a pattern is repeated. For example, @@ -3783,7 +3816,7 @@ DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PCRE AND PERL 14. Perl recognizes comments in some places that PCRE does not, for example, between the ( and ? at the start of a subpattern. If the /x - modifier is set, Perl allows whitespace between ( and ? but PCRE never + modifier is set, Perl allows white space between ( and ? but PCRE never does, even if the PCRE_EXTENDED option is set. 15. PCRE provides some extensions to the Perl regular expression facil- @@ -3843,7 +3876,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 08 Januray 2012 + Last updated: 01 June 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -4029,10 +4062,10 @@ BACKSLASH after a backslash. All other characters (in particular, those whose codepoints are greater than 127) are treated as literals. - If a pattern is compiled with the PCRE_EXTENDED option, whitespace in + If a pattern is compiled with the PCRE_EXTENDED option, white space in the pattern (other than in a character class) and characters between a # outside a character class and the next newline are ignored. An escap- - ing backslash can be used to include a whitespace or # character as + ing backslash can be used to include a white space or # character as part of the pattern. If you want to remove the special meaning from a sequence of charac- @@ -4067,7 +4100,7 @@ BACKSLASH \a alarm, that is, the BEL character (hex 07) \cx "control-x", where x is any ASCII character \e escape (hex 1B) - \f formfeed (hex 0C) + \f form feed (hex 0C) \n linefeed (hex 0A) \r carriage return (hex 0D) \t tab (hex 09) @@ -4109,7 +4142,9 @@ BACKSLASH its. Otherwise, it matches a literal "x" character. In JavaScript mode, support for code points greater than 256 is provided by \u, which must be followed by four hexadecimal digits; otherwise it matches a - literal "u" character. + literal "u" character. Character codes specified by \u in JavaScript + mode are constrained in the same was as those specified by \x in non- + JavaScript mode. Characters whose value is less than 256 can be defined by either of the two syntaxes for \x (or by \u in JavaScript mode). There is no differ- @@ -4196,12 +4231,12 @@ BACKSLASH \d any decimal digit \D any character that is not a decimal digit - \h any horizontal whitespace character - \H any character that is not a horizontal whitespace character - \s any whitespace character - \S any character that is not a whitespace character - \v any vertical whitespace character - \V any character that is not a vertical whitespace character + \h any horizontal white space character + \H any character that is not a horizontal white space character + \s any white space character + \S any character that is not a white space character + \v any vertical white space character + \V any character that is not a vertical white space character \w any "word" character \W any "non-word" character @@ -4281,7 +4316,7 @@ BACKSLASH U+000A Linefeed U+000B Vertical tab - U+000C Formfeed + U+000C Form feed U+000D Carriage return U+0085 Next line U+2028 Line separator @@ -4301,9 +4336,9 @@ BACKSLASH This is an example of an "atomic group", details of which are given below. This particular group matches either the two-character sequence CR followed by LF, or one of the single characters LF (linefeed, - U+000A), VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (formfeed, U+000C), CR (carriage - return, U+000D), or NEL (next line, U+0085). The two-character sequence - is treated as a single unit that cannot be split. + U+000A), VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form feed, U+000C), CR (car- + riage return, U+000D), or NEL (next line, U+0085). The two-character + sequence is treated as a single unit that cannot be split. In other modes, two additional characters whose codepoints are greater than 255 are added: LS (line separator, U+2028) and PS (paragraph sepa- @@ -4366,20 +4401,22 @@ BACKSLASH Those that are not part of an identified script are lumped together as "Common". The current list of scripts is: - Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Balinese, Bamum, Bengali, Bopomofo, Braille, - Buginese, Buhid, Canadian_Aboriginal, Carian, Cham, Cherokee, Common, - Coptic, Cuneiform, Cypriot, Cyrillic, Deseret, Devanagari, Egyp- - tian_Hieroglyphs, Ethiopic, Georgian, Glagolitic, Gothic, Greek, - Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hanunoo, Hebrew, Hiragana, Impe- - rial_Aramaic, Inherited, Inscriptional_Pahlavi, Inscriptional_Parthian, - Javanese, Kaithi, Kannada, Katakana, Kayah_Li, Kharoshthi, Khmer, Lao, - Latin, Lepcha, Limbu, Linear_B, Lisu, Lycian, Lydian, Malayalam, - Meetei_Mayek, Mongolian, Myanmar, New_Tai_Lue, Nko, Ogham, Old_Italic, - Old_Persian, Old_South_Arabian, Old_Turkic, Ol_Chiki, Oriya, Osmanya, - Phags_Pa, Phoenician, Rejang, Runic, Samaritan, Saurashtra, Shavian, - Sinhala, Sundanese, Syloti_Nagri, Syriac, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai_Le, - Tai_Tham, Tai_Viet, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, Thai, Tibetan, Tifinagh, - Ugaritic, Vai, Yi. + Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Balinese, Bamum, Batak, Bengali, Bopomofo, + Brahmi, Braille, Buginese, Buhid, Canadian_Aboriginal, Carian, Chakma, + Cham, Cherokee, Common, Coptic, Cuneiform, Cypriot, Cyrillic, Deseret, + Devanagari, Egyptian_Hieroglyphs, Ethiopic, Georgian, Glagolitic, + Gothic, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hanunoo, Hebrew, Hira- + gana, Imperial_Aramaic, Inherited, Inscriptional_Pahlavi, Inscrip- + tional_Parthian, Javanese, Kaithi, Kannada, Katakana, Kayah_Li, + Kharoshthi, Khmer, Lao, Latin, Lepcha, Limbu, Linear_B, Lisu, Lycian, + Lydian, Malayalam, Mandaic, Meetei_Mayek, Meroitic_Cursive, + Meroitic_Hieroglyphs, Miao, Mongolian, Myanmar, New_Tai_Lue, Nko, + Ogham, Old_Italic, Old_Persian, Old_South_Arabian, Old_Turkic, + Ol_Chiki, Oriya, Osmanya, Phags_Pa, Phoenician, Rejang, Runic, Samari- + tan, Saurashtra, Sharada, Shavian, Sinhala, Sora_Sompeng, Sundanese, + Syloti_Nagri, Syriac, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai_Le, Tai_Tham, Tai_Viet, + Takri, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, Thai, Tibetan, Tifinagh, Ugaritic, Vai, + Yi. Each character has exactly one Unicode general category property, spec- ified by a two-letter abbreviation. For compatibility with Perl, nega- @@ -4501,7 +4538,7 @@ BACKSLASH Xan matches characters that have either the L (letter) or the N (num- ber) property. Xps matches the characters tab, linefeed, vertical tab, - formfeed, or carriage return, and any other character that has the Z + form feed, or carriage return, and any other character that has the Z (separator) property. Xsp is the same as Xps, except that vertical tab is excluded. Xwd matches the same characters as Xan, plus underscore. @@ -4681,16 +4718,17 @@ MATCHING A SINGLE DATA UNIT means that the rest of the string may start with a malformed UTF char- acter. This has undefined results, because PCRE assumes that it is dealing with valid UTF strings (and by default it checks this at the - start of processing unless the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option is used). + start of processing unless the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK or + PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK option is used). - PCRE does not allow \C to appear in lookbehind assertions (described - below) in a UTF mode, because this would make it impossible to calcu- + PCRE does not allow \C to appear in lookbehind assertions (described + below) in a UTF mode, because this would make it impossible to calcu- late the length of the lookbehind. In general, the \C escape sequence is best avoided. However, one way of - using it that avoids the problem of malformed UTF characters is to use - a lookahead to check the length of the next character, as in this pat- - tern, which could be used with a UTF-8 string (ignore white space and + using it that avoids the problem of malformed UTF characters is to use + a lookahead to check the length of the next character, as in this pat- + tern, which could be used with a UTF-8 string (ignore white space and line breaks): (?| (?=[\x00-\x7f])(\C) | @@ -4698,11 +4736,11 @@ MATCHING A SINGLE DATA UNIT (?=[\x{800}-\x{ffff}])(\C)(\C)(\C) | (?=[\x{10000}-\x{1fffff}])(\C)(\C)(\C)(\C)) - A group that starts with (?| resets the capturing parentheses numbers - in each alternative (see "Duplicate Subpattern Numbers" below). The - assertions at the start of each branch check the next UTF-8 character - for values whose encoding uses 1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes, respectively. The - character's individual bytes are then captured by the appropriate num- + A group that starts with (?| resets the capturing parentheses numbers + in each alternative (see "Duplicate Subpattern Numbers" below). The + assertions at the start of each branch check the next UTF-8 character + for values whose encoding uses 1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes, respectively. The + character's individual bytes are then captured by the appropriate num- ber of groups. @@ -4712,109 +4750,109 @@ SQUARE BRACKETS AND CHARACTER CLASSES closing square bracket. A closing square bracket on its own is not spe- cial by default. However, if the PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT option is set, a lone closing square bracket causes a compile-time error. If a closing - square bracket is required as a member of the class, it should be the - first data character in the class (after an initial circumflex, if + square bracket is required as a member of the class, it should be the + first data character in the class (after an initial circumflex, if present) or escaped with a backslash. - A character class matches a single character in the subject. In a UTF - mode, the character may be more than one data unit long. A matched + A character class matches a single character in the subject. In a UTF + mode, the character may be more than one data unit long. A matched character must be in the set of characters defined by the class, unless - the first character in the class definition is a circumflex, in which + the first character in the class definition is a circumflex, in which case the subject character must not be in the set defined by the class. - If a circumflex is actually required as a member of the class, ensure + If a circumflex is actually required as a member of the class, ensure it is not the first character, or escape it with a backslash. - For example, the character class [aeiou] matches any lower case vowel, - while [^aeiou] matches any character that is not a lower case vowel. + For example, the character class [aeiou] matches any lower case vowel, + while [^aeiou] matches any character that is not a lower case vowel. Note that a circumflex is just a convenient notation for specifying the - characters that are in the class by enumerating those that are not. A - class that starts with a circumflex is not an assertion; it still con- - sumes a character from the subject string, and therefore it fails if + characters that are in the class by enumerating those that are not. A + class that starts with a circumflex is not an assertion; it still con- + sumes a character from the subject string, and therefore it fails if the current pointer is at the end of the string. - In UTF-8 (UTF-16) mode, characters with values greater than 255 - (0xffff) can be included in a class as a literal string of data units, + In UTF-8 (UTF-16) mode, characters with values greater than 255 + (0xffff) can be included in a class as a literal string of data units, or by using the \x{ escaping mechanism. - When caseless matching is set, any letters in a class represent both - their upper case and lower case versions, so for example, a caseless - [aeiou] matches "A" as well as "a", and a caseless [^aeiou] does not - match "A", whereas a caseful version would. In a UTF mode, PCRE always - understands the concept of case for characters whose values are less - than 128, so caseless matching is always possible. For characters with - higher values, the concept of case is supported if PCRE is compiled - with Unicode property support, but not otherwise. If you want to use - caseless matching in a UTF mode for characters 128 and above, you must - ensure that PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support as well as + When caseless matching is set, any letters in a class represent both + their upper case and lower case versions, so for example, a caseless + [aeiou] matches "A" as well as "a", and a caseless [^aeiou] does not + match "A", whereas a caseful version would. In a UTF mode, PCRE always + understands the concept of case for characters whose values are less + than 128, so caseless matching is always possible. For characters with + higher values, the concept of case is supported if PCRE is compiled + with Unicode property support, but not otherwise. If you want to use + caseless matching in a UTF mode for characters 128 and above, you must + ensure that PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support as well as with UTF support. - Characters that might indicate line breaks are never treated in any - special way when matching character classes, whatever line-ending - sequence is in use, and whatever setting of the PCRE_DOTALL and + Characters that might indicate line breaks are never treated in any + special way when matching character classes, whatever line-ending + sequence is in use, and whatever setting of the PCRE_DOTALL and PCRE_MULTILINE options is used. A class such as [^a] always matches one of these characters. - The minus (hyphen) character can be used to specify a range of charac- - ters in a character class. For example, [d-m] matches any letter - between d and m, inclusive. If a minus character is required in a - class, it must be escaped with a backslash or appear in a position - where it cannot be interpreted as indicating a range, typically as the + The minus (hyphen) character can be used to specify a range of charac- + ters in a character class. For example, [d-m] matches any letter + between d and m, inclusive. If a minus character is required in a + class, it must be escaped with a backslash or appear in a position + where it cannot be interpreted as indicating a range, typically as the first or last character in the class. It is not possible to have the literal character "]" as the end charac- - ter of a range. A pattern such as [W-]46] is interpreted as a class of - two characters ("W" and "-") followed by a literal string "46]", so it - would match "W46]" or "-46]". However, if the "]" is escaped with a - backslash it is interpreted as the end of range, so [W-\]46] is inter- - preted as a class containing a range followed by two other characters. - The octal or hexadecimal representation of "]" can also be used to end + ter of a range. A pattern such as [W-]46] is interpreted as a class of + two characters ("W" and "-") followed by a literal string "46]", so it + would match "W46]" or "-46]". However, if the "]" is escaped with a + backslash it is interpreted as the end of range, so [W-\]46] is inter- + preted as a class containing a range followed by two other characters. + The octal or hexadecimal representation of "]" can also be used to end a range. - Ranges operate in the collating sequence of character values. They can - also be used for characters specified numerically, for example - [\000-\037]. Ranges can include any characters that are valid for the + Ranges operate in the collating sequence of character values. They can + also be used for characters specified numerically, for example + [\000-\037]. Ranges can include any characters that are valid for the current mode. If a range that includes letters is used when caseless matching is set, it matches the letters in either case. For example, [W-c] is equivalent - to [][\\^_`wxyzabc], matched caselessly, and in a non-UTF mode, if - character tables for a French locale are in use, [\xc8-\xcb] matches - accented E characters in both cases. In UTF modes, PCRE supports the - concept of case for characters with values greater than 128 only when + to [][\\^_`wxyzabc], matched caselessly, and in a non-UTF mode, if + character tables for a French locale are in use, [\xc8-\xcb] matches + accented E characters in both cases. In UTF modes, PCRE supports the + concept of case for characters with values greater than 128 only when it is compiled with Unicode property support. - The character escape sequences \d, \D, \h, \H, \p, \P, \s, \S, \v, \V, + The character escape sequences \d, \D, \h, \H, \p, \P, \s, \S, \v, \V, \w, and \W may appear in a character class, and add the characters that - they match to the class. For example, [\dABCDEF] matches any hexadeci- - mal digit. In UTF modes, the PCRE_UCP option affects the meanings of - \d, \s, \w and their upper case partners, just as it does when they - appear outside a character class, as described in the section entitled + they match to the class. For example, [\dABCDEF] matches any hexadeci- + mal digit. In UTF modes, the PCRE_UCP option affects the meanings of + \d, \s, \w and their upper case partners, just as it does when they + appear outside a character class, as described in the section entitled "Generic character types" above. The escape sequence \b has a different - meaning inside a character class; it matches the backspace character. - The sequences \B, \N, \R, and \X are not special inside a character - class. Like any other unrecognized escape sequences, they are treated - as the literal characters "B", "N", "R", and "X" by default, but cause + meaning inside a character class; it matches the backspace character. + The sequences \B, \N, \R, and \X are not special inside a character + class. Like any other unrecognized escape sequences, they are treated + as the literal characters "B", "N", "R", and "X" by default, but cause an error if the PCRE_EXTRA option is set. - A circumflex can conveniently be used with the upper case character - types to specify a more restricted set of characters than the matching - lower case type. For example, the class [^\W_] matches any letter or + A circumflex can conveniently be used with the upper case character + types to specify a more restricted set of characters than the matching + lower case type. For example, the class [^\W_] matches any letter or digit, but not underscore, whereas [\w] includes underscore. A positive character class should be read as "something OR something OR ..." and a negative class as "NOT something AND NOT something AND NOT ...". - The only metacharacters that are recognized in character classes are - backslash, hyphen (only where it can be interpreted as specifying a - range), circumflex (only at the start), opening square bracket (only - when it can be interpreted as introducing a POSIX class name - see the - next section), and the terminating closing square bracket. However, + The only metacharacters that are recognized in character classes are + backslash, hyphen (only where it can be interpreted as specifying a + range), circumflex (only at the start), opening square bracket (only + when it can be interpreted as introducing a POSIX class name - see the + next section), and the terminating closing square bracket. However, escaping other non-alphanumeric characters does no harm. POSIX CHARACTER CLASSES Perl supports the POSIX notation for character classes. This uses names - enclosed by [: and :] within the enclosing square brackets. PCRE also + enclosed by [: and :] within the enclosing square brackets. PCRE also supports this notation. For example, [01[:alpha:]%] @@ -4837,24 +4875,24 @@ POSIX CHARACTER CLASSES word "word" characters (same as \w) xdigit hexadecimal digits - The "space" characters are HT (9), LF (10), VT (11), FF (12), CR (13), - and space (32). Notice that this list includes the VT character (code + The "space" characters are HT (9), LF (10), VT (11), FF (12), CR (13), + and space (32). Notice that this list includes the VT character (code 11). This makes "space" different to \s, which does not include VT (for Perl compatibility). - The name "word" is a Perl extension, and "blank" is a GNU extension - from Perl 5.8. Another Perl extension is negation, which is indicated + The name "word" is a Perl extension, and "blank" is a GNU extension + from Perl 5.8. Another Perl extension is negation, which is indicated by a ^ character after the colon. For example, [12[:^digit:]] - matches "1", "2", or any non-digit. PCRE (and Perl) also recognize the + matches "1", "2", or any non-digit. PCRE (and Perl) also recognize the POSIX syntax [.ch.] and [=ch=] where "ch" is a "collating element", but these are not supported, and an error is given if they are encountered. - By default, in UTF modes, characters with values greater than 128 do - not match any of the POSIX character classes. However, if the PCRE_UCP - option is passed to pcre_compile(), some of the classes are changed so + By default, in UTF modes, characters with values greater than 128 do + not match any of the POSIX character classes. However, if the PCRE_UCP + option is passed to pcre_compile(), some of the classes are changed so that Unicode character properties are used. This is achieved by replac- ing the POSIX classes by other sequences, as follows: @@ -4867,31 +4905,31 @@ POSIX CHARACTER CLASSES [:upper:] becomes \p{Lu} [:word:] becomes \p{Xwd} - Negated versions, such as [:^alpha:] use \P instead of \p. The other + Negated versions, such as [:^alpha:] use \P instead of \p. The other POSIX classes are unchanged, and match only characters with code points less than 128. VERTICAL BAR - Vertical bar characters are used to separate alternative patterns. For + Vertical bar characters are used to separate alternative patterns. For example, the pattern gilbert|sullivan - matches either "gilbert" or "sullivan". Any number of alternatives may - appear, and an empty alternative is permitted (matching the empty + matches either "gilbert" or "sullivan". Any number of alternatives may + appear, and an empty alternative is permitted (matching the empty string). The matching process tries each alternative in turn, from left - to right, and the first one that succeeds is used. If the alternatives - are within a subpattern (defined below), "succeeds" means matching the + to right, and the first one that succeeds is used. If the alternatives + are within a subpattern (defined below), "succeeds" means matching the rest of the main pattern as well as the alternative in the subpattern. INTERNAL OPTION SETTING - The settings of the PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, PCRE_DOTALL, and - PCRE_EXTENDED options (which are Perl-compatible) can be changed from - within the pattern by a sequence of Perl option letters enclosed + The settings of the PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, PCRE_DOTALL, and + PCRE_EXTENDED options (which are Perl-compatible) can be changed from + within the pattern by a sequence of Perl option letters enclosed between "(?" and ")". The option letters are i for PCRE_CASELESS @@ -4901,48 +4939,48 @@ INTERNAL OPTION SETTING For example, (?im) sets caseless, multiline matching. It is also possi- ble to unset these options by preceding the letter with a hyphen, and a - combined setting and unsetting such as (?im-sx), which sets PCRE_CASE- - LESS and PCRE_MULTILINE while unsetting PCRE_DOTALL and PCRE_EXTENDED, - is also permitted. If a letter appears both before and after the + combined setting and unsetting such as (?im-sx), which sets PCRE_CASE- + LESS and PCRE_MULTILINE while unsetting PCRE_DOTALL and PCRE_EXTENDED, + is also permitted. If a letter appears both before and after the hyphen, the option is unset. - The PCRE-specific options PCRE_DUPNAMES, PCRE_UNGREEDY, and PCRE_EXTRA - can be changed in the same way as the Perl-compatible options by using + The PCRE-specific options PCRE_DUPNAMES, PCRE_UNGREEDY, and PCRE_EXTRA + can be changed in the same way as the Perl-compatible options by using the characters J, U and X respectively. - When one of these option changes occurs at top level (that is, not - inside subpattern parentheses), the change applies to the remainder of + When one of these option changes occurs at top level (that is, not + inside subpattern parentheses), the change applies to the remainder of the pattern that follows. If the change is placed right at the start of a pattern, PCRE extracts it into the global options (and it will there- fore show up in data extracted by the pcre_fullinfo() function). - An option change within a subpattern (see below for a description of - subpatterns) affects only that part of the subpattern that follows it, + An option change within a subpattern (see below for a description of + subpatterns) affects only that part of the subpattern that follows it, so (a(?i)b)c matches abc and aBc and no other strings (assuming PCRE_CASELESS is not - used). By this means, options can be made to have different settings - in different parts of the pattern. Any changes made in one alternative - do carry on into subsequent branches within the same subpattern. For + used). By this means, options can be made to have different settings + in different parts of the pattern. Any changes made in one alternative + do carry on into subsequent branches within the same subpattern. For example, (a(?i)b|c) - matches "ab", "aB", "c", and "C", even though when matching "C" the - first branch is abandoned before the option setting. This is because - the effects of option settings happen at compile time. There would be + matches "ab", "aB", "c", and "C", even though when matching "C" the + first branch is abandoned before the option setting. This is because + the effects of option settings happen at compile time. There would be some very weird behaviour otherwise. - Note: There are other PCRE-specific options that can be set by the - application when the compiling or matching functions are called. In - some cases the pattern can contain special leading sequences such as - (*CRLF) to override what the application has set or what has been - defaulted. Details are given in the section entitled "Newline - sequences" above. There are also the (*UTF8), (*UTF16), and (*UCP) - leading sequences that can be used to set UTF and Unicode property - modes; they are equivalent to setting the PCRE_UTF8, PCRE_UTF16, and + Note: There are other PCRE-specific options that can be set by the + application when the compiling or matching functions are called. In + some cases the pattern can contain special leading sequences such as + (*CRLF) to override what the application has set or what has been + defaulted. Details are given in the section entitled "Newline + sequences" above. There are also the (*UTF8), (*UTF16), and (*UCP) + leading sequences that can be used to set UTF and Unicode property + modes; they are equivalent to setting the PCRE_UTF8, PCRE_UTF16, and the PCRE_UCP options, respectively. @@ -4955,18 +4993,18 @@ SUBPATTERNS cat(aract|erpillar|) - matches "cataract", "caterpillar", or "cat". Without the parentheses, + matches "cataract", "caterpillar", or "cat". Without the parentheses, it would match "cataract", "erpillar" or an empty string. - 2. It sets up the subpattern as a capturing subpattern. This means - that, when the whole pattern matches, that portion of the subject + 2. It sets up the subpattern as a capturing subpattern. This means + that, when the whole pattern matches, that portion of the subject string that matched the subpattern is passed back to the caller via the - ovector argument of the matching function. (This applies only to the - traditional matching functions; the DFA matching functions do not sup- + ovector argument of the matching function. (This applies only to the + traditional matching functions; the DFA matching functions do not sup- port capturing.) Opening parentheses are counted from left to right (starting from 1) to - obtain numbers for the capturing subpatterns. For example, if the + obtain numbers for the capturing subpatterns. For example, if the string "the red king" is matched against the pattern the ((red|white) (king|queen)) @@ -4974,12 +5012,12 @@ SUBPATTERNS the captured substrings are "red king", "red", and "king", and are num- bered 1, 2, and 3, respectively. - The fact that plain parentheses fulfil two functions is not always - helpful. There are often times when a grouping subpattern is required - without a capturing requirement. If an opening parenthesis is followed - by a question mark and a colon, the subpattern does not do any captur- - ing, and is not counted when computing the number of any subsequent - capturing subpatterns. For example, if the string "the white queen" is + The fact that plain parentheses fulfil two functions is not always + helpful. There are often times when a grouping subpattern is required + without a capturing requirement. If an opening parenthesis is followed + by a question mark and a colon, the subpattern does not do any captur- + ing, and is not counted when computing the number of any subsequent + capturing subpatterns. For example, if the string "the white queen" is matched against the pattern the ((?:red|white) (king|queen)) @@ -4987,37 +5025,37 @@ SUBPATTERNS the captured substrings are "white queen" and "queen", and are numbered 1 and 2. The maximum number of capturing subpatterns is 65535. - As a convenient shorthand, if any option settings are required at the - start of a non-capturing subpattern, the option letters may appear + As a convenient shorthand, if any option settings are required at the + start of a non-capturing subpattern, the option letters may appear between the "?" and the ":". Thus the two patterns (?i:saturday|sunday) (?:(?i)saturday|sunday) match exactly the same set of strings. Because alternative branches are - tried from left to right, and options are not reset until the end of - the subpattern is reached, an option setting in one branch does affect - subsequent branches, so the above patterns match "SUNDAY" as well as + tried from left to right, and options are not reset until the end of + the subpattern is reached, an option setting in one branch does affect + subsequent branches, so the above patterns match "SUNDAY" as well as "Saturday". DUPLICATE SUBPATTERN NUMBERS Perl 5.10 introduced a feature whereby each alternative in a subpattern - uses the same numbers for its capturing parentheses. Such a subpattern - starts with (?| and is itself a non-capturing subpattern. For example, + uses the same numbers for its capturing parentheses. Such a subpattern + starts with (?| and is itself a non-capturing subpattern. For example, consider this pattern: (?|(Sat)ur|(Sun))day - Because the two alternatives are inside a (?| group, both sets of cap- - turing parentheses are numbered one. Thus, when the pattern matches, - you can look at captured substring number one, whichever alternative - matched. This construct is useful when you want to capture part, but + Because the two alternatives are inside a (?| group, both sets of cap- + turing parentheses are numbered one. Thus, when the pattern matches, + you can look at captured substring number one, whichever alternative + matched. This construct is useful when you want to capture part, but not all, of one of a number of alternatives. Inside a (?| group, paren- - theses are numbered as usual, but the number is reset at the start of - each branch. The numbers of any capturing parentheses that follow the - subpattern start after the highest number used in any branch. The fol- + theses are numbered as usual, but the number is reset at the start of + each branch. The numbers of any capturing parentheses that follow the + subpattern start after the highest number used in any branch. The fol- lowing example is taken from the Perl documentation. The numbers under- neath show in which buffer the captured content will be stored. @@ -5025,58 +5063,58 @@ DUPLICATE SUBPATTERN NUMBERS / ( a ) (?| x ( y ) z | (p (q) r) | (t) u (v) ) ( z ) /x # 1 2 2 3 2 3 4 - A back reference to a numbered subpattern uses the most recent value - that is set for that number by any subpattern. The following pattern + A back reference to a numbered subpattern uses the most recent value + that is set for that number by any subpattern. The following pattern matches "abcabc" or "defdef": /(?|(abc)|(def))\1/ - In contrast, a subroutine call to a numbered subpattern always refers - to the first one in the pattern with the given number. The following + In contrast, a subroutine call to a numbered subpattern always refers + to the first one in the pattern with the given number. The following pattern matches "abcabc" or "defabc": /(?|(abc)|(def))(?1)/ - If a condition test for a subpattern's having matched refers to a non- - unique number, the test is true if any of the subpatterns of that num- + If a condition test for a subpattern's having matched refers to a non- + unique number, the test is true if any of the subpatterns of that num- ber have matched. - An alternative approach to using this "branch reset" feature is to use + An alternative approach to using this "branch reset" feature is to use duplicate named subpatterns, as described in the next section. NAMED SUBPATTERNS - Identifying capturing parentheses by number is simple, but it can be - very hard to keep track of the numbers in complicated regular expres- - sions. Furthermore, if an expression is modified, the numbers may - change. To help with this difficulty, PCRE supports the naming of sub- + Identifying capturing parentheses by number is simple, but it can be + very hard to keep track of the numbers in complicated regular expres- + sions. Furthermore, if an expression is modified, the numbers may + change. To help with this difficulty, PCRE supports the naming of sub- patterns. This feature was not added to Perl until release 5.10. Python - had the feature earlier, and PCRE introduced it at release 4.0, using - the Python syntax. PCRE now supports both the Perl and the Python syn- - tax. Perl allows identically numbered subpatterns to have different + had the feature earlier, and PCRE introduced it at release 4.0, using + the Python syntax. PCRE now supports both the Perl and the Python syn- + tax. Perl allows identically numbered subpatterns to have different names, but PCRE does not. - In PCRE, a subpattern can be named in one of three ways: (?...) - or (?'name'...) as in Perl, or (?P...) as in Python. References - to capturing parentheses from other parts of the pattern, such as back - references, recursion, and conditions, can be made by name as well as + In PCRE, a subpattern can be named in one of three ways: (?...) + or (?'name'...) as in Perl, or (?P...) as in Python. References + to capturing parentheses from other parts of the pattern, such as back + references, recursion, and conditions, can be made by name as well as by number. - Names consist of up to 32 alphanumeric characters and underscores. - Named capturing parentheses are still allocated numbers as well as - names, exactly as if the names were not present. The PCRE API provides + Names consist of up to 32 alphanumeric characters and underscores. + Named capturing parentheses are still allocated numbers as well as + names, exactly as if the names were not present. The PCRE API provides function calls for extracting the name-to-number translation table from a compiled pattern. There is also a convenience function for extracting a captured substring by name. - By default, a name must be unique within a pattern, but it is possible + By default, a name must be unique within a pattern, but it is possible to relax this constraint by setting the PCRE_DUPNAMES option at compile - time. (Duplicate names are also always permitted for subpatterns with - the same number, set up as described in the previous section.) Dupli- - cate names can be useful for patterns where only one instance of the - named parentheses can match. Suppose you want to match the name of a - weekday, either as a 3-letter abbreviation or as the full name, and in + time. (Duplicate names are also always permitted for subpatterns with + the same number, set up as described in the previous section.) Dupli- + cate names can be useful for patterns where only one instance of the + named parentheses can match. Suppose you want to match the name of a + weekday, either as a 3-letter abbreviation or as the full name, and in both cases you want to extract the abbreviation. This pattern (ignoring the line breaks) does the job: @@ -5086,38 +5124,38 @@ NAMED SUBPATTERNS (?Thu)(?:rsday)?| (?Sat)(?:urday)? - There are five capturing substrings, but only one is ever set after a + There are five capturing substrings, but only one is ever set after a match. (An alternative way of solving this problem is to use a "branch reset" subpattern, as described in the previous section.) - The convenience function for extracting the data by name returns the - substring for the first (and in this example, the only) subpattern of - that name that matched. This saves searching to find which numbered + The convenience function for extracting the data by name returns the + substring for the first (and in this example, the only) subpattern of + that name that matched. This saves searching to find which numbered subpattern it was. - If you make a back reference to a non-unique named subpattern from - elsewhere in the pattern, the one that corresponds to the first occur- + If you make a back reference to a non-unique named subpattern from + elsewhere in the pattern, the one that corresponds to the first occur- rence of the name is used. In the absence of duplicate numbers (see the - previous section) this is the one with the lowest number. If you use a - named reference in a condition test (see the section about conditions - below), either to check whether a subpattern has matched, or to check - for recursion, all subpatterns with the same name are tested. If the - condition is true for any one of them, the overall condition is true. + previous section) this is the one with the lowest number. If you use a + named reference in a condition test (see the section about conditions + below), either to check whether a subpattern has matched, or to check + for recursion, all subpatterns with the same name are tested. If the + condition is true for any one of them, the overall condition is true. This is the same behaviour as testing by number. For further details of the interfaces for handling named subpatterns, see the pcreapi documen- tation. Warning: You cannot use different names to distinguish between two sub- - patterns with the same number because PCRE uses only the numbers when + patterns with the same number because PCRE uses only the numbers when matching. For this reason, an error is given at compile time if differ- - ent names are given to subpatterns with the same number. However, you - can give the same name to subpatterns with the same number, even when + ent names are given to subpatterns with the same number. However, you + can give the same name to subpatterns with the same number, even when PCRE_DUPNAMES is not set. REPETITION - Repetition is specified by quantifiers, which can follow any of the + Repetition is specified by quantifiers, which can follow any of the following items: a literal data character @@ -5131,17 +5169,17 @@ REPETITION a parenthesized subpattern (including assertions) a subroutine call to a subpattern (recursive or otherwise) - The general repetition quantifier specifies a minimum and maximum num- - ber of permitted matches, by giving the two numbers in curly brackets - (braces), separated by a comma. The numbers must be less than 65536, + The general repetition quantifier specifies a minimum and maximum num- + ber of permitted matches, by giving the two numbers in curly brackets + (braces), separated by a comma. The numbers must be less than 65536, and the first must be less than or equal to the second. For example: z{2,4} - matches "zz", "zzz", or "zzzz". A closing brace on its own is not a - special character. If the second number is omitted, but the comma is - present, there is no upper limit; if the second number and the comma - are both omitted, the quantifier specifies an exact number of required + matches "zz", "zzz", or "zzzz". A closing brace on its own is not a + special character. If the second number is omitted, but the comma is + present, there is no upper limit; if the second number and the comma + are both omitted, the quantifier specifies an exact number of required matches. Thus [aeiou]{3,} @@ -5150,49 +5188,49 @@ REPETITION \d{8} - matches exactly 8 digits. An opening curly bracket that appears in a - position where a quantifier is not allowed, or one that does not match - the syntax of a quantifier, is taken as a literal character. For exam- + matches exactly 8 digits. An opening curly bracket that appears in a + position where a quantifier is not allowed, or one that does not match + the syntax of a quantifier, is taken as a literal character. For exam- ple, {,6} is not a quantifier, but a literal string of four characters. In UTF modes, quantifiers apply to characters rather than to individual - data units. Thus, for example, \x{100}{2} matches two characters, each + data units. Thus, for example, \x{100}{2} matches two characters, each of which is represented by a two-byte sequence in a UTF-8 string. Simi- - larly, \X{3} matches three Unicode extended sequences, each of which + larly, \X{3} matches three Unicode extended sequences, each of which may be several data units long (and they may be of different lengths). The quantifier {0} is permitted, causing the expression to behave as if the previous item and the quantifier were not present. This may be use- - ful for subpatterns that are referenced as subroutines from elsewhere + ful for subpatterns that are referenced as subroutines from elsewhere in the pattern (but see also the section entitled "Defining subpatterns - for use by reference only" below). Items other than subpatterns that + for use by reference only" below). Items other than subpatterns that have a {0} quantifier are omitted from the compiled pattern. - For convenience, the three most common quantifiers have single-charac- + For convenience, the three most common quantifiers have single-charac- ter abbreviations: * is equivalent to {0,} + is equivalent to {1,} ? is equivalent to {0,1} - It is possible to construct infinite loops by following a subpattern + It is possible to construct infinite loops by following a subpattern that can match no characters with a quantifier that has no upper limit, for example: (a?)* Earlier versions of Perl and PCRE used to give an error at compile time - for such patterns. However, because there are cases where this can be - useful, such patterns are now accepted, but if any repetition of the - subpattern does in fact match no characters, the loop is forcibly bro- + for such patterns. However, because there are cases where this can be + useful, such patterns are now accepted, but if any repetition of the + subpattern does in fact match no characters, the loop is forcibly bro- ken. - By default, the quantifiers are "greedy", that is, they match as much - as possible (up to the maximum number of permitted times), without - causing the rest of the pattern to fail. The classic example of where + By default, the quantifiers are "greedy", that is, they match as much + as possible (up to the maximum number of permitted times), without + causing the rest of the pattern to fail. The classic example of where this gives problems is in trying to match comments in C programs. These - appear between /* and */ and within the comment, individual * and / - characters may appear. An attempt to match C comments by applying the + appear between /* and */ and within the comment, individual * and / + characters may appear. An attempt to match C comments by applying the pattern /\*.*\*/ @@ -5201,19 +5239,19 @@ REPETITION /* first comment */ not comment /* second comment */ - fails, because it matches the entire string owing to the greediness of + fails, because it matches the entire string owing to the greediness of the .* item. - However, if a quantifier is followed by a question mark, it ceases to + However, if a quantifier is followed by a question mark, it ceases to be greedy, and instead matches the minimum number of times possible, so the pattern /\*.*?\*/ - does the right thing with the C comments. The meaning of the various - quantifiers is not otherwise changed, just the preferred number of - matches. Do not confuse this use of question mark with its use as a - quantifier in its own right. Because it has two uses, it can sometimes + does the right thing with the C comments. The meaning of the various + quantifiers is not otherwise changed, just the preferred number of + matches. Do not confuse this use of question mark with its use as a + quantifier in its own right. Because it has two uses, it can sometimes appear doubled, as in \d??\d @@ -5221,36 +5259,36 @@ REPETITION which matches one digit by preference, but can match two if that is the only way the rest of the pattern matches. - If the PCRE_UNGREEDY option is set (an option that is not available in - Perl), the quantifiers are not greedy by default, but individual ones - can be made greedy by following them with a question mark. In other + If the PCRE_UNGREEDY option is set (an option that is not available in + Perl), the quantifiers are not greedy by default, but individual ones + can be made greedy by following them with a question mark. In other words, it inverts the default behaviour. - When a parenthesized subpattern is quantified with a minimum repeat - count that is greater than 1 or with a limited maximum, more memory is - required for the compiled pattern, in proportion to the size of the + When a parenthesized subpattern is quantified with a minimum repeat + count that is greater than 1 or with a limited maximum, more memory is + required for the compiled pattern, in proportion to the size of the minimum or maximum. If a pattern starts with .* or .{0,} and the PCRE_DOTALL option (equiv- - alent to Perl's /s) is set, thus allowing the dot to match newlines, - the pattern is implicitly anchored, because whatever follows will be - tried against every character position in the subject string, so there - is no point in retrying the overall match at any position after the - first. PCRE normally treats such a pattern as though it were preceded + alent to Perl's /s) is set, thus allowing the dot to match newlines, + the pattern is implicitly anchored, because whatever follows will be + tried against every character position in the subject string, so there + is no point in retrying the overall match at any position after the + first. PCRE normally treats such a pattern as though it were preceded by \A. - In cases where it is known that the subject string contains no new- - lines, it is worth setting PCRE_DOTALL in order to obtain this opti- + In cases where it is known that the subject string contains no new- + lines, it is worth setting PCRE_DOTALL in order to obtain this opti- mization, or alternatively using ^ to indicate anchoring explicitly. - However, there is one situation where the optimization cannot be used. + However, there is one situation where the optimization cannot be used. When .* is inside capturing parentheses that are the subject of a back reference elsewhere in the pattern, a match at the start may fail where a later one succeeds. Consider, for example: (.*)abc\1 - If the subject is "xyz123abc123" the match point is the fourth charac- + If the subject is "xyz123abc123" the match point is the fourth charac- ter. For this reason, such a pattern is not implicitly anchored. When a capturing subpattern is repeated, the value captured is the sub- @@ -5259,8 +5297,8 @@ REPETITION (tweedle[dume]{3}\s*)+ has matched "tweedledum tweedledee" the value of the captured substring - is "tweedledee". However, if there are nested capturing subpatterns, - the corresponding captured values may have been set in previous itera- + is "tweedledee". However, if there are nested capturing subpatterns, + the corresponding captured values may have been set in previous itera- tions. For example, after /(a|(b))+/ @@ -5270,53 +5308,53 @@ REPETITION ATOMIC GROUPING AND POSSESSIVE QUANTIFIERS - With both maximizing ("greedy") and minimizing ("ungreedy" or "lazy") - repetition, failure of what follows normally causes the repeated item - to be re-evaluated to see if a different number of repeats allows the - rest of the pattern to match. Sometimes it is useful to prevent this, - either to change the nature of the match, or to cause it fail earlier - than it otherwise might, when the author of the pattern knows there is + With both maximizing ("greedy") and minimizing ("ungreedy" or "lazy") + repetition, failure of what follows normally causes the repeated item + to be re-evaluated to see if a different number of repeats allows the + rest of the pattern to match. Sometimes it is useful to prevent this, + either to change the nature of the match, or to cause it fail earlier + than it otherwise might, when the author of the pattern knows there is no point in carrying on. - Consider, for example, the pattern \d+foo when applied to the subject + Consider, for example, the pattern \d+foo when applied to the subject line 123456bar After matching all 6 digits and then failing to match "foo", the normal - action of the matcher is to try again with only 5 digits matching the - \d+ item, and then with 4, and so on, before ultimately failing. - "Atomic grouping" (a term taken from Jeffrey Friedl's book) provides - the means for specifying that once a subpattern has matched, it is not + action of the matcher is to try again with only 5 digits matching the + \d+ item, and then with 4, and so on, before ultimately failing. + "Atomic grouping" (a term taken from Jeffrey Friedl's book) provides + the means for specifying that once a subpattern has matched, it is not to be re-evaluated in this way. - If we use atomic grouping for the previous example, the matcher gives - up immediately on failing to match "foo" the first time. The notation + If we use atomic grouping for the previous example, the matcher gives + up immediately on failing to match "foo" the first time. The notation is a kind of special parenthesis, starting with (?> as in this example: (?>\d+)foo - This kind of parenthesis "locks up" the part of the pattern it con- - tains once it has matched, and a failure further into the pattern is - prevented from backtracking into it. Backtracking past it to previous + This kind of parenthesis "locks up" the part of the pattern it con- + tains once it has matched, and a failure further into the pattern is + prevented from backtracking into it. Backtracking past it to previous items, however, works as normal. - An alternative description is that a subpattern of this type matches - the string of characters that an identical standalone pattern would + An alternative description is that a subpattern of this type matches + the string of characters that an identical standalone pattern would match, if anchored at the current point in the subject string. Atomic grouping subpatterns are not capturing subpatterns. Simple cases such as the above example can be thought of as a maximizing repeat that - must swallow everything it can. So, while both \d+ and \d+? are pre- - pared to adjust the number of digits they match in order to make the + must swallow everything it can. So, while both \d+ and \d+? are pre- + pared to adjust the number of digits they match in order to make the rest of the pattern match, (?>\d+) can only match an entire sequence of digits. - Atomic groups in general can of course contain arbitrarily complicated - subpatterns, and can be nested. However, when the subpattern for an + Atomic groups in general can of course contain arbitrarily complicated + subpatterns, and can be nested. However, when the subpattern for an atomic group is just a single repeated item, as in the example above, a - simpler notation, called a "possessive quantifier" can be used. This - consists of an additional + character following a quantifier. Using + simpler notation, called a "possessive quantifier" can be used. This + consists of an additional + character following a quantifier. Using this notation, the previous example can be rewritten as \d++foo @@ -5326,45 +5364,45 @@ ATOMIC GROUPING AND POSSESSIVE QUANTIFIERS (abc|xyz){2,3}+ - Possessive quantifiers are always greedy; the setting of the + Possessive quantifiers are always greedy; the setting of the PCRE_UNGREEDY option is ignored. They are a convenient notation for the - simpler forms of atomic group. However, there is no difference in the - meaning of a possessive quantifier and the equivalent atomic group, - though there may be a performance difference; possessive quantifiers + simpler forms of atomic group. However, there is no difference in the + meaning of a possessive quantifier and the equivalent atomic group, + though there may be a performance difference; possessive quantifiers should be slightly faster. - The possessive quantifier syntax is an extension to the Perl 5.8 syn- - tax. Jeffrey Friedl originated the idea (and the name) in the first + The possessive quantifier syntax is an extension to the Perl 5.8 syn- + tax. Jeffrey Friedl originated the idea (and the name) in the first edition of his book. Mike McCloskey liked it, so implemented it when he - built Sun's Java package, and PCRE copied it from there. It ultimately + built Sun's Java package, and PCRE copied it from there. It ultimately found its way into Perl at release 5.10. PCRE has an optimization that automatically "possessifies" certain sim- - ple pattern constructs. For example, the sequence A+B is treated as - A++B because there is no point in backtracking into a sequence of A's + ple pattern constructs. For example, the sequence A+B is treated as + A++B because there is no point in backtracking into a sequence of A's when B must follow. - When a pattern contains an unlimited repeat inside a subpattern that - can itself be repeated an unlimited number of times, the use of an - atomic group is the only way to avoid some failing matches taking a + When a pattern contains an unlimited repeat inside a subpattern that + can itself be repeated an unlimited number of times, the use of an + atomic group is the only way to avoid some failing matches taking a very long time indeed. The pattern (\D+|<\d+>)*[!?] - matches an unlimited number of substrings that either consist of non- - digits, or digits enclosed in <>, followed by either ! or ?. When it + matches an unlimited number of substrings that either consist of non- + digits, or digits enclosed in <>, followed by either ! or ?. When it matches, it runs quickly. However, if it is applied to aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa - it takes a long time before reporting failure. This is because the - string can be divided between the internal \D+ repeat and the external - * repeat in a large number of ways, and all have to be tried. (The - example uses [!?] rather than a single character at the end, because - both PCRE and Perl have an optimization that allows for fast failure - when a single character is used. They remember the last single charac- - ter that is required for a match, and fail early if it is not present - in the string.) If the pattern is changed so that it uses an atomic + it takes a long time before reporting failure. This is because the + string can be divided between the internal \D+ repeat and the external + * repeat in a large number of ways, and all have to be tried. (The + example uses [!?] rather than a single character at the end, because + both PCRE and Perl have an optimization that allows for fast failure + when a single character is used. They remember the last single charac- + ter that is required for a match, and fail early if it is not present + in the string.) If the pattern is changed so that it uses an atomic group, like this: ((?>\D+)|<\d+>)*[!?] @@ -5376,28 +5414,28 @@ BACK REFERENCES Outside a character class, a backslash followed by a digit greater than 0 (and possibly further digits) is a back reference to a capturing sub- - pattern earlier (that is, to its left) in the pattern, provided there + pattern earlier (that is, to its left) in the pattern, provided there have been that many previous capturing left parentheses. However, if the decimal number following the backslash is less than 10, - it is always taken as a back reference, and causes an error only if - there are not that many capturing left parentheses in the entire pat- - tern. In other words, the parentheses that are referenced need not be - to the left of the reference for numbers less than 10. A "forward back - reference" of this type can make sense when a repetition is involved - and the subpattern to the right has participated in an earlier itera- + it is always taken as a back reference, and causes an error only if + there are not that many capturing left parentheses in the entire pat- + tern. In other words, the parentheses that are referenced need not be + to the left of the reference for numbers less than 10. A "forward back + reference" of this type can make sense when a repetition is involved + and the subpattern to the right has participated in an earlier itera- tion. - It is not possible to have a numerical "forward back reference" to a - subpattern whose number is 10 or more using this syntax because a - sequence such as \50 is interpreted as a character defined in octal. + It is not possible to have a numerical "forward back reference" to a + subpattern whose number is 10 or more using this syntax because a + sequence such as \50 is interpreted as a character defined in octal. See the subsection entitled "Non-printing characters" above for further - details of the handling of digits following a backslash. There is no - such problem when named parentheses are used. A back reference to any + details of the handling of digits following a backslash. There is no + such problem when named parentheses are used. A back reference to any subpattern is possible using named parentheses (see below). - Another way of avoiding the ambiguity inherent in the use of digits - following a backslash is to use the \g escape sequence. This escape + Another way of avoiding the ambiguity inherent in the use of digits + following a backslash is to use the \g escape sequence. This escape must be followed by an unsigned number or a negative number, optionally enclosed in braces. These examples are all identical: @@ -5405,7 +5443,7 @@ BACK REFERENCES (ring), \g1 (ring), \g{1} - An unsigned number specifies an absolute reference without the ambigu- + An unsigned number specifies an absolute reference without the ambigu- ity that is present in the older syntax. It is also useful when literal digits follow the reference. A negative number is a relative reference. Consider this example: @@ -5414,33 +5452,33 @@ BACK REFERENCES The sequence \g{-1} is a reference to the most recently started captur- ing subpattern before \g, that is, is it equivalent to \2 in this exam- - ple. Similarly, \g{-2} would be equivalent to \1. The use of relative - references can be helpful in long patterns, and also in patterns that - are created by joining together fragments that contain references + ple. Similarly, \g{-2} would be equivalent to \1. The use of relative + references can be helpful in long patterns, and also in patterns that + are created by joining together fragments that contain references within themselves. - A back reference matches whatever actually matched the capturing sub- - pattern in the current subject string, rather than anything matching + A back reference matches whatever actually matched the capturing sub- + pattern in the current subject string, rather than anything matching the subpattern itself (see "Subpatterns as subroutines" below for a way of doing that). So the pattern (sens|respons)e and \1ibility - matches "sense and sensibility" and "response and responsibility", but - not "sense and responsibility". If caseful matching is in force at the - time of the back reference, the case of letters is relevant. For exam- + matches "sense and sensibility" and "response and responsibility", but + not "sense and responsibility". If caseful matching is in force at the + time of the back reference, the case of letters is relevant. For exam- ple, ((?i)rah)\s+\1 - matches "rah rah" and "RAH RAH", but not "RAH rah", even though the + matches "rah rah" and "RAH RAH", but not "RAH rah", even though the original capturing subpattern is matched caselessly. - There are several different ways of writing back references to named - subpatterns. The .NET syntax \k{name} and the Perl syntax \k or - \k'name' are supported, as is the Python syntax (?P=name). Perl 5.10's + There are several different ways of writing back references to named + subpatterns. The .NET syntax \k{name} and the Perl syntax \k or + \k'name' are supported, as is the Python syntax (?P=name). Perl 5.10's unified back reference syntax, in which \g can be used for both numeric - and named references, is also supported. We could rewrite the above + and named references, is also supported. We could rewrite the above example in any of the following ways: (?(?i)rah)\s+\k @@ -5448,83 +5486,83 @@ BACK REFERENCES (?P(?i)rah)\s+(?P=p1) (?(?i)rah)\s+\g{p1} - A subpattern that is referenced by name may appear in the pattern + A subpattern that is referenced by name may appear in the pattern before or after the reference. - There may be more than one back reference to the same subpattern. If a - subpattern has not actually been used in a particular match, any back + There may be more than one back reference to the same subpattern. If a + subpattern has not actually been used in a particular match, any back references to it always fail by default. For example, the pattern (a|(bc))\2 - always fails if it starts to match "a" rather than "bc". However, if + always fails if it starts to match "a" rather than "bc". However, if the PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT option is set at compile time, a back refer- ence to an unset value matches an empty string. - Because there may be many capturing parentheses in a pattern, all dig- - its following a backslash are taken as part of a potential back refer- - ence number. If the pattern continues with a digit character, some - delimiter must be used to terminate the back reference. If the - PCRE_EXTENDED option is set, this can be whitespace. Otherwise, the \g{ - syntax or an empty comment (see "Comments" below) can be used. + Because there may be many capturing parentheses in a pattern, all dig- + its following a backslash are taken as part of a potential back refer- + ence number. If the pattern continues with a digit character, some + delimiter must be used to terminate the back reference. If the + PCRE_EXTENDED option is set, this can be white space. Otherwise, the + \g{ syntax or an empty comment (see "Comments" below) can be used. Recursive back references - A back reference that occurs inside the parentheses to which it refers - fails when the subpattern is first used, so, for example, (a\1) never - matches. However, such references can be useful inside repeated sub- + A back reference that occurs inside the parentheses to which it refers + fails when the subpattern is first used, so, for example, (a\1) never + matches. However, such references can be useful inside repeated sub- patterns. For example, the pattern (a|b\1)+ matches any number of "a"s and also "aba", "ababbaa" etc. At each iter- - ation of the subpattern, the back reference matches the character - string corresponding to the previous iteration. In order for this to - work, the pattern must be such that the first iteration does not need - to match the back reference. This can be done using alternation, as in + ation of the subpattern, the back reference matches the character + string corresponding to the previous iteration. In order for this to + work, the pattern must be such that the first iteration does not need + to match the back reference. This can be done using alternation, as in the example above, or by a quantifier with a minimum of zero. - Back references of this type cause the group that they reference to be - treated as an atomic group. Once the whole group has been matched, a - subsequent matching failure cannot cause backtracking into the middle + Back references of this type cause the group that they reference to be + treated as an atomic group. Once the whole group has been matched, a + subsequent matching failure cannot cause backtracking into the middle of the group. ASSERTIONS - An assertion is a test on the characters following or preceding the - current matching point that does not actually consume any characters. - The simple assertions coded as \b, \B, \A, \G, \Z, \z, ^ and $ are + An assertion is a test on the characters following or preceding the + current matching point that does not actually consume any characters. + The simple assertions coded as \b, \B, \A, \G, \Z, \z, ^ and $ are described above. - More complicated assertions are coded as subpatterns. There are two - kinds: those that look ahead of the current position in the subject - string, and those that look behind it. An assertion subpattern is - matched in the normal way, except that it does not cause the current + More complicated assertions are coded as subpatterns. There are two + kinds: those that look ahead of the current position in the subject + string, and those that look behind it. An assertion subpattern is + matched in the normal way, except that it does not cause the current matching position to be changed. - Assertion subpatterns are not capturing subpatterns. If such an asser- - tion contains capturing subpatterns within it, these are counted for - the purposes of numbering the capturing subpatterns in the whole pat- - tern. However, substring capturing is carried out only for positive + Assertion subpatterns are not capturing subpatterns. If such an asser- + tion contains capturing subpatterns within it, these are counted for + the purposes of numbering the capturing subpatterns in the whole pat- + tern. However, substring capturing is carried out only for positive assertions, because it does not make sense for negative assertions. - For compatibility with Perl, assertion subpatterns may be repeated; - though it makes no sense to assert the same thing several times, the - side effect of capturing parentheses may occasionally be useful. In + For compatibility with Perl, assertion subpatterns may be repeated; + though it makes no sense to assert the same thing several times, the + side effect of capturing parentheses may occasionally be useful. In practice, there only three cases: - (1) If the quantifier is {0}, the assertion is never obeyed during - matching. However, it may contain internal capturing parenthesized + (1) If the quantifier is {0}, the assertion is never obeyed during + matching. However, it may contain internal capturing parenthesized groups that are called from elsewhere via the subroutine mechanism. - (2) If quantifier is {0,n} where n is greater than zero, it is treated - as if it were {0,1}. At run time, the rest of the pattern match is + (2) If quantifier is {0,n} where n is greater than zero, it is treated + as if it were {0,1}. At run time, the rest of the pattern match is tried with and without the assertion, the order depending on the greed- iness of the quantifier. - (3) If the minimum repetition is greater than zero, the quantifier is - ignored. The assertion is obeyed just once when encountered during + (3) If the minimum repetition is greater than zero, the quantifier is + ignored. The assertion is obeyed just once when encountered during matching. Lookahead assertions @@ -5534,38 +5572,38 @@ ASSERTIONS \w+(?=;) - matches a word followed by a semicolon, but does not include the semi- + matches a word followed by a semicolon, but does not include the semi- colon in the match, and foo(?!bar) - matches any occurrence of "foo" that is not followed by "bar". Note + matches any occurrence of "foo" that is not followed by "bar". Note that the apparently similar pattern (?!foo)bar - does not find an occurrence of "bar" that is preceded by something - other than "foo"; it finds any occurrence of "bar" whatsoever, because + does not find an occurrence of "bar" that is preceded by something + other than "foo"; it finds any occurrence of "bar" whatsoever, because the assertion (?!foo) is always true when the next three characters are "bar". A lookbehind assertion is needed to achieve the other effect. If you want to force a matching failure at some point in a pattern, the - most convenient way to do it is with (?!) because an empty string - always matches, so an assertion that requires there not to be an empty + most convenient way to do it is with (?!) because an empty string + always matches, so an assertion that requires there not to be an empty string must always fail. The backtracking control verb (*FAIL) or (*F) is a synonym for (?!). Lookbehind assertions - Lookbehind assertions start with (?<= for positive assertions and (?)...) or (?('name')...) to test for a - used subpattern by name. For compatibility with earlier versions of - PCRE, which had this facility before Perl, the syntax (?(name)...) is - also recognized. However, there is a possible ambiguity with this syn- - tax, because subpattern names may consist entirely of digits. PCRE - looks first for a named subpattern; if it cannot find one and the name - consists entirely of digits, PCRE looks for a subpattern of that num- - ber, which must be greater than zero. Using subpattern names that con- + Perl uses the syntax (?()...) or (?('name')...) to test for a + used subpattern by name. For compatibility with earlier versions of + PCRE, which had this facility before Perl, the syntax (?(name)...) is + also recognized. However, there is a possible ambiguity with this syn- + tax, because subpattern names may consist entirely of digits. PCRE + looks first for a named subpattern; if it cannot find one and the name + consists entirely of digits, PCRE looks for a subpattern of that num- + ber, which must be greater than zero. Using subpattern names that con- sist entirely of digits is not recommended. Rewriting the above example to use a named subpattern gives this: (? \( )? [^()]+ (?() \) ) - If the name used in a condition of this kind is a duplicate, the test - is applied to all subpatterns of the same name, and is true if any one + If the name used in a condition of this kind is a duplicate, the test + is applied to all subpatterns of the same name, and is true if any one of them has matched. Checking for pattern recursion If the condition is the string (R), and there is no subpattern with the - name R, the condition is true if a recursive call to the whole pattern + name R, the condition is true if a recursive call to the whole pattern or any subpattern has been made. If digits or a name preceded by amper- sand follow the letter R, for example: @@ -5762,51 +5800,51 @@ CONDITIONAL SUBPATTERNS the condition is true if the most recent recursion is into a subpattern whose number or name is given. This condition does not check the entire - recursion stack. If the name used in a condition of this kind is a + recursion stack. If the name used in a condition of this kind is a duplicate, the test is applied to all subpatterns of the same name, and is true if any one of them is the most recent recursion. - At "top level", all these recursion test conditions are false. The + At "top level", all these recursion test conditions are false. The syntax for recursive patterns is described below. Defining subpatterns for use by reference only - If the condition is the string (DEFINE), and there is no subpattern - with the name DEFINE, the condition is always false. In this case, - there may be only one alternative in the subpattern. It is always - skipped if control reaches this point in the pattern; the idea of - DEFINE is that it can be used to define subroutines that can be refer- - enced from elsewhere. (The use of subroutines is described below.) For - example, a pattern to match an IPv4 address such as "192.168.23.245" - could be written like this (ignore whitespace and line breaks): + If the condition is the string (DEFINE), and there is no subpattern + with the name DEFINE, the condition is always false. In this case, + there may be only one alternative in the subpattern. It is always + skipped if control reaches this point in the pattern; the idea of + DEFINE is that it can be used to define subroutines that can be refer- + enced from elsewhere. (The use of subroutines is described below.) For + example, a pattern to match an IPv4 address such as "192.168.23.245" + could be written like this (ignore white space and line breaks): (?(DEFINE) (? 2[0-4]\d | 25[0-5] | 1\d\d | [1-9]?\d) ) \b (?&byte) (\.(?&byte)){3} \b - The first part of the pattern is a DEFINE group inside which a another - group named "byte" is defined. This matches an individual component of - an IPv4 address (a number less than 256). When matching takes place, - this part of the pattern is skipped because DEFINE acts like a false - condition. The rest of the pattern uses references to the named group - to match the four dot-separated components of an IPv4 address, insist- + The first part of the pattern is a DEFINE group inside which a another + group named "byte" is defined. This matches an individual component of + an IPv4 address (a number less than 256). When matching takes place, + this part of the pattern is skipped because DEFINE acts like a false + condition. The rest of the pattern uses references to the named group + to match the four dot-separated components of an IPv4 address, insist- ing on a word boundary at each end. Assertion conditions - If the condition is not in any of the above formats, it must be an - assertion. This may be a positive or negative lookahead or lookbehind - assertion. Consider this pattern, again containing non-significant + If the condition is not in any of the above formats, it must be an + assertion. This may be a positive or negative lookahead or lookbehind + assertion. Consider this pattern, again containing non-significant white space, and with the two alternatives on the second line: (?(?=[^a-z]*[a-z]) \d{2}-[a-z]{3}-\d{2} | \d{2}-\d{2}-\d{2} ) - The condition is a positive lookahead assertion that matches an - optional sequence of non-letters followed by a letter. In other words, - it tests for the presence of at least one letter in the subject. If a - letter is found, the subject is matched against the first alternative; - otherwise it is matched against the second. This pattern matches - strings in one of the two forms dd-aaa-dd or dd-dd-dd, where aaa are + The condition is a positive lookahead assertion that matches an + optional sequence of non-letters followed by a letter. In other words, + it tests for the presence of at least one letter in the subject. If a + letter is found, the subject is matched against the first alternative; + otherwise it is matched against the second. This pattern matches + strings in one of the two forms dd-aaa-dd or dd-dd-dd, where aaa are letters and dd are digits. @@ -5815,41 +5853,41 @@ COMMENTS There are two ways of including comments in patterns that are processed by PCRE. In both cases, the start of the comment must not be in a char- acter class, nor in the middle of any other sequence of related charac- - ters such as (?: or a subpattern name or number. The characters that + ters such as (?: or a subpattern name or number. The characters that make up a comment play no part in the pattern matching. - The sequence (?# marks the start of a comment that continues up to the - next closing parenthesis. Nested parentheses are not permitted. If the + The sequence (?# marks the start of a comment that continues up to the + next closing parenthesis. Nested parentheses are not permitted. If the PCRE_EXTENDED option is set, an unescaped # character also introduces a - comment, which in this case continues to immediately after the next - newline character or character sequence in the pattern. Which charac- + comment, which in this case continues to immediately after the next + newline character or character sequence in the pattern. Which charac- ters are interpreted as newlines is controlled by the options passed to - a compiling function or by a special sequence at the start of the pat- + a compiling function or by a special sequence at the start of the pat- tern, as described in the section entitled "Newline conventions" above. Note that the end of this type of comment is a literal newline sequence - in the pattern; escape sequences that happen to represent a newline do - not count. For example, consider this pattern when PCRE_EXTENDED is + in the pattern; escape sequences that happen to represent a newline do + not count. For example, consider this pattern when PCRE_EXTENDED is set, and the default newline convention is in force: abc #comment \n still comment - On encountering the # character, pcre_compile() skips along, looking - for a newline in the pattern. The sequence \n is still literal at this - stage, so it does not terminate the comment. Only an actual character + On encountering the # character, pcre_compile() skips along, looking + for a newline in the pattern. The sequence \n is still literal at this + stage, so it does not terminate the comment. Only an actual character with the code value 0x0a (the default newline) does so. RECURSIVE PATTERNS - Consider the problem of matching a string in parentheses, allowing for - unlimited nested parentheses. Without the use of recursion, the best - that can be done is to use a pattern that matches up to some fixed - depth of nesting. It is not possible to handle an arbitrary nesting + Consider the problem of matching a string in parentheses, allowing for + unlimited nested parentheses. Without the use of recursion, the best + that can be done is to use a pattern that matches up to some fixed + depth of nesting. It is not possible to handle an arbitrary nesting depth. For some time, Perl has provided a facility that allows regular expres- - sions to recurse (amongst other things). It does this by interpolating - Perl code in the expression at run time, and the code can refer to the + sions to recurse (amongst other things). It does this by interpolating + Perl code in the expression at run time, and the code can refer to the expression itself. A Perl pattern using code interpolation to solve the parentheses problem can be created like this: @@ -5859,201 +5897,201 @@ RECURSIVE PATTERNS refers recursively to the pattern in which it appears. Obviously, PCRE cannot support the interpolation of Perl code. Instead, - it supports special syntax for recursion of the entire pattern, and - also for individual subpattern recursion. After its introduction in - PCRE and Python, this kind of recursion was subsequently introduced + it supports special syntax for recursion of the entire pattern, and + also for individual subpattern recursion. After its introduction in + PCRE and Python, this kind of recursion was subsequently introduced into Perl at release 5.10. - A special item that consists of (? followed by a number greater than - zero and a closing parenthesis is a recursive subroutine call of the - subpattern of the given number, provided that it occurs inside that - subpattern. (If not, it is a non-recursive subroutine call, which is - described in the next section.) The special item (?R) or (?0) is a + A special item that consists of (? followed by a number greater than + zero and a closing parenthesis is a recursive subroutine call of the + subpattern of the given number, provided that it occurs inside that + subpattern. (If not, it is a non-recursive subroutine call, which is + described in the next section.) The special item (?R) or (?0) is a recursive call of the entire regular expression. - This PCRE pattern solves the nested parentheses problem (assume the + This PCRE pattern solves the nested parentheses problem (assume the PCRE_EXTENDED option is set so that white space is ignored): \( ( [^()]++ | (?R) )* \) - First it matches an opening parenthesis. Then it matches any number of - substrings which can either be a sequence of non-parentheses, or a - recursive match of the pattern itself (that is, a correctly parenthe- + First it matches an opening parenthesis. Then it matches any number of + substrings which can either be a sequence of non-parentheses, or a + recursive match of the pattern itself (that is, a correctly parenthe- sized substring). Finally there is a closing parenthesis. Note the use of a possessive quantifier to avoid backtracking into sequences of non- parentheses. - If this were part of a larger pattern, you would not want to recurse + If this were part of a larger pattern, you would not want to recurse the entire pattern, so instead you could use this: ( \( ( [^()]++ | (?1) )* \) ) - We have put the pattern into parentheses, and caused the recursion to + We have put the pattern into parentheses, and caused the recursion to refer to them instead of the whole pattern. - In a larger pattern, keeping track of parenthesis numbers can be - tricky. This is made easier by the use of relative references. Instead + In a larger pattern, keeping track of parenthesis numbers can be + tricky. This is made easier by the use of relative references. Instead of (?1) in the pattern above you can write (?-2) to refer to the second - most recently opened parentheses preceding the recursion. In other - words, a negative number counts capturing parentheses leftwards from + most recently opened parentheses preceding the recursion. In other + words, a negative number counts capturing parentheses leftwards from the point at which it is encountered. - It is also possible to refer to subsequently opened parentheses, by - writing references such as (?+2). However, these cannot be recursive - because the reference is not inside the parentheses that are refer- - enced. They are always non-recursive subroutine calls, as described in + It is also possible to refer to subsequently opened parentheses, by + writing references such as (?+2). However, these cannot be recursive + because the reference is not inside the parentheses that are refer- + enced. They are always non-recursive subroutine calls, as described in the next section. - An alternative approach is to use named parentheses instead. The Perl - syntax for this is (?&name); PCRE's earlier syntax (?P>name) is also + An alternative approach is to use named parentheses instead. The Perl + syntax for this is (?&name); PCRE's earlier syntax (?P>name) is also supported. We could rewrite the above example as follows: (? \( ( [^()]++ | (?&pn) )* \) ) - If there is more than one subpattern with the same name, the earliest + If there is more than one subpattern with the same name, the earliest one is used. - This particular example pattern that we have been looking at contains + This particular example pattern that we have been looking at contains nested unlimited repeats, and so the use of a possessive quantifier for matching strings of non-parentheses is important when applying the pat- - tern to strings that do not match. For example, when this pattern is + tern to strings that do not match. For example, when this pattern is applied to (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa() - it yields "no match" quickly. However, if a possessive quantifier is - not used, the match runs for a very long time indeed because there are - so many different ways the + and * repeats can carve up the subject, + it yields "no match" quickly. However, if a possessive quantifier is + not used, the match runs for a very long time indeed because there are + so many different ways the + and * repeats can carve up the subject, and all have to be tested before failure can be reported. - At the end of a match, the values of capturing parentheses are those - from the outermost level. If you want to obtain intermediate values, a - callout function can be used (see below and the pcrecallout documenta- + At the end of a match, the values of capturing parentheses are those + from the outermost level. If you want to obtain intermediate values, a + callout function can be used (see below and the pcrecallout documenta- tion). If the pattern above is matched against (ab(cd)ef) - the value for the inner capturing parentheses (numbered 2) is "ef", - which is the last value taken on at the top level. If a capturing sub- - pattern is not matched at the top level, its final captured value is - unset, even if it was (temporarily) set at a deeper level during the + the value for the inner capturing parentheses (numbered 2) is "ef", + which is the last value taken on at the top level. If a capturing sub- + pattern is not matched at the top level, its final captured value is + unset, even if it was (temporarily) set at a deeper level during the matching process. - If there are more than 15 capturing parentheses in a pattern, PCRE has - to obtain extra memory to store data during a recursion, which it does + If there are more than 15 capturing parentheses in a pattern, PCRE has + to obtain extra memory to store data during a recursion, which it does by using pcre_malloc, freeing it via pcre_free afterwards. If no memory can be obtained, the match fails with the PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY error. - Do not confuse the (?R) item with the condition (R), which tests for - recursion. Consider this pattern, which matches text in angle brack- - ets, allowing for arbitrary nesting. Only digits are allowed in nested - brackets (that is, when recursing), whereas any characters are permit- + Do not confuse the (?R) item with the condition (R), which tests for + recursion. Consider this pattern, which matches text in angle brack- + ets, allowing for arbitrary nesting. Only digits are allowed in nested + brackets (that is, when recursing), whereas any characters are permit- ted at the outer level. < (?: (?(R) \d++ | [^<>]*+) | (?R)) * > - In this pattern, (?(R) is the start of a conditional subpattern, with - two different alternatives for the recursive and non-recursive cases. + In this pattern, (?(R) is the start of a conditional subpattern, with + two different alternatives for the recursive and non-recursive cases. The (?R) item is the actual recursive call. Differences in recursion processing between PCRE and Perl - Recursion processing in PCRE differs from Perl in two important ways. - In PCRE (like Python, but unlike Perl), a recursive subpattern call is + Recursion processing in PCRE differs from Perl in two important ways. + In PCRE (like Python, but unlike Perl), a recursive subpattern call is always treated as an atomic group. That is, once it has matched some of the subject string, it is never re-entered, even if it contains untried - alternatives and there is a subsequent matching failure. This can be - illustrated by the following pattern, which purports to match a palin- - dromic string that contains an odd number of characters (for example, + alternatives and there is a subsequent matching failure. This can be + illustrated by the following pattern, which purports to match a palin- + dromic string that contains an odd number of characters (for example, "a", "aba", "abcba", "abcdcba"): ^(.|(.)(?1)\2)$ The idea is that it either matches a single character, or two identical - characters surrounding a sub-palindrome. In Perl, this pattern works; - in PCRE it does not if the pattern is longer than three characters. + characters surrounding a sub-palindrome. In Perl, this pattern works; + in PCRE it does not if the pattern is longer than three characters. Consider the subject string "abcba": - At the top level, the first character is matched, but as it is not at + At the top level, the first character is matched, but as it is not at the end of the string, the first alternative fails; the second alterna- tive is taken and the recursion kicks in. The recursive call to subpat- - tern 1 successfully matches the next character ("b"). (Note that the + tern 1 successfully matches the next character ("b"). (Note that the beginning and end of line tests are not part of the recursion). - Back at the top level, the next character ("c") is compared with what - subpattern 2 matched, which was "a". This fails. Because the recursion - is treated as an atomic group, there are now no backtracking points, - and so the entire match fails. (Perl is able, at this point, to re- - enter the recursion and try the second alternative.) However, if the + Back at the top level, the next character ("c") is compared with what + subpattern 2 matched, which was "a". This fails. Because the recursion + is treated as an atomic group, there are now no backtracking points, + and so the entire match fails. (Perl is able, at this point, to re- + enter the recursion and try the second alternative.) However, if the pattern is written with the alternatives in the other order, things are different: ^((.)(?1)\2|.)$ - This time, the recursing alternative is tried first, and continues to - recurse until it runs out of characters, at which point the recursion - fails. But this time we do have another alternative to try at the - higher level. That is the big difference: in the previous case the + This time, the recursing alternative is tried first, and continues to + recurse until it runs out of characters, at which point the recursion + fails. But this time we do have another alternative to try at the + higher level. That is the big difference: in the previous case the remaining alternative is at a deeper recursion level, which PCRE cannot use. - To change the pattern so that it matches all palindromic strings, not - just those with an odd number of characters, it is tempting to change + To change the pattern so that it matches all palindromic strings, not + just those with an odd number of characters, it is tempting to change the pattern to this: ^((.)(?1)\2|.?)$ - Again, this works in Perl, but not in PCRE, and for the same reason. - When a deeper recursion has matched a single character, it cannot be - entered again in order to match an empty string. The solution is to - separate the two cases, and write out the odd and even cases as alter- + Again, this works in Perl, but not in PCRE, and for the same reason. + When a deeper recursion has matched a single character, it cannot be + entered again in order to match an empty string. The solution is to + separate the two cases, and write out the odd and even cases as alter- natives at the higher level: ^(?:((.)(?1)\2|)|((.)(?3)\4|.)) - If you want to match typical palindromic phrases, the pattern has to + If you want to match typical palindromic phrases, the pattern has to ignore all non-word characters, which can be done like this: ^\W*+(?:((.)\W*+(?1)\W*+\2|)|((.)\W*+(?3)\W*+\4|\W*+.\W*+))\W*+$ If run with the PCRE_CASELESS option, this pattern matches phrases such as "A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!" and it works well in both PCRE and - Perl. Note the use of the possessive quantifier *+ to avoid backtrack- - ing into sequences of non-word characters. Without this, PCRE takes a - great deal longer (ten times or more) to match typical phrases, and + Perl. Note the use of the possessive quantifier *+ to avoid backtrack- + ing into sequences of non-word characters. Without this, PCRE takes a + great deal longer (ten times or more) to match typical phrases, and Perl takes so long that you think it has gone into a loop. - WARNING: The palindrome-matching patterns above work only if the sub- - ject string does not start with a palindrome that is shorter than the - entire string. For example, although "abcba" is correctly matched, if - the subject is "ababa", PCRE finds the palindrome "aba" at the start, - then fails at top level because the end of the string does not follow. - Once again, it cannot jump back into the recursion to try other alter- + WARNING: The palindrome-matching patterns above work only if the sub- + ject string does not start with a palindrome that is shorter than the + entire string. For example, although "abcba" is correctly matched, if + the subject is "ababa", PCRE finds the palindrome "aba" at the start, + then fails at top level because the end of the string does not follow. + Once again, it cannot jump back into the recursion to try other alter- natives, so the entire match fails. - The second way in which PCRE and Perl differ in their recursion pro- - cessing is in the handling of captured values. In Perl, when a subpat- - tern is called recursively or as a subpattern (see the next section), - it has no access to any values that were captured outside the recur- - sion, whereas in PCRE these values can be referenced. Consider this + The second way in which PCRE and Perl differ in their recursion pro- + cessing is in the handling of captured values. In Perl, when a subpat- + tern is called recursively or as a subpattern (see the next section), + it has no access to any values that were captured outside the recur- + sion, whereas in PCRE these values can be referenced. Consider this pattern: ^(.)(\1|a(?2)) - In PCRE, this pattern matches "bab". The first capturing parentheses - match "b", then in the second group, when the back reference \1 fails - to match "b", the second alternative matches "a" and then recurses. In - the recursion, \1 does now match "b" and so the whole match succeeds. - In Perl, the pattern fails to match because inside the recursive call + In PCRE, this pattern matches "bab". The first capturing parentheses + match "b", then in the second group, when the back reference \1 fails + to match "b", the second alternative matches "a" and then recurses. In + the recursion, \1 does now match "b" and so the whole match succeeds. + In Perl, the pattern fails to match because inside the recursive call \1 cannot access the externally set value. SUBPATTERNS AS SUBROUTINES - If the syntax for a recursive subpattern call (either by number or by - name) is used outside the parentheses to which it refers, it operates - like a subroutine in a programming language. The called subpattern may - be defined before or after the reference. A numbered reference can be + If the syntax for a recursive subpattern call (either by number or by + name) is used outside the parentheses to which it refers, it operates + like a subroutine in a programming language. The called subpattern may + be defined before or after the reference. A numbered reference can be absolute or relative, as in these examples: (...(absolute)...)...(?2)... @@ -6064,123 +6102,126 @@ SUBPATTERNS AS SUBROUTINES (sens|respons)e and \1ibility - matches "sense and sensibility" and "response and responsibility", but + matches "sense and sensibility" and "response and responsibility", but not "sense and responsibility". If instead the pattern (sens|respons)e and (?1)ibility - is used, it does match "sense and responsibility" as well as the other - two strings. Another example is given in the discussion of DEFINE + is used, it does match "sense and responsibility" as well as the other + two strings. Another example is given in the discussion of DEFINE above. - All subroutine calls, whether recursive or not, are always treated as - atomic groups. That is, once a subroutine has matched some of the sub- + All subroutine calls, whether recursive or not, are always treated as + atomic groups. That is, once a subroutine has matched some of the sub- ject string, it is never re-entered, even if it contains untried alter- - natives and there is a subsequent matching failure. Any capturing - parentheses that are set during the subroutine call revert to their + natives and there is a subsequent matching failure. Any capturing + parentheses that are set during the subroutine call revert to their previous values afterwards. - Processing options such as case-independence are fixed when a subpat- - tern is defined, so if it is used as a subroutine, such options cannot + Processing options such as case-independence are fixed when a subpat- + tern is defined, so if it is used as a subroutine, such options cannot be changed for different calls. For example, consider this pattern: (abc)(?i:(?-1)) - It matches "abcabc". It does not match "abcABC" because the change of + It matches "abcabc". It does not match "abcABC" because the change of processing option does not affect the called subpattern. ONIGURUMA SUBROUTINE SYNTAX - For compatibility with Oniguruma, the non-Perl syntax \g followed by a + For compatibility with Oniguruma, the non-Perl syntax \g followed by a name or a number enclosed either in angle brackets or single quotes, is - an alternative syntax for referencing a subpattern as a subroutine, - possibly recursively. Here are two of the examples used above, rewrit- + an alternative syntax for referencing a subpattern as a subroutine, + possibly recursively. Here are two of the examples used above, rewrit- ten using this syntax: (? \( ( (?>[^()]+) | \g )* \) ) (sens|respons)e and \g'1'ibility - PCRE supports an extension to Oniguruma: if a number is preceded by a + PCRE supports an extension to Oniguruma: if a number is preceded by a plus or a minus sign it is taken as a relative reference. For example: (abc)(?i:\g<-1>) - Note that \g{...} (Perl syntax) and \g<...> (Oniguruma syntax) are not - synonymous. The former is a back reference; the latter is a subroutine + Note that \g{...} (Perl syntax) and \g<...> (Oniguruma syntax) are not + synonymous. The former is a back reference; the latter is a subroutine call. CALLOUTS Perl has a feature whereby using the sequence (?{...}) causes arbitrary - Perl code to be obeyed in the middle of matching a regular expression. + Perl code to be obeyed in the middle of matching a regular expression. This makes it possible, amongst other things, to extract different sub- strings that match the same pair of parentheses when there is a repeti- tion. PCRE provides a similar feature, but of course it cannot obey arbitrary Perl code. The feature is called "callout". The caller of PCRE provides - an external function by putting its entry point in the global variable - pcre_callout (8-bit library) or pcre16_callout (16-bit library). By + an external function by putting its entry point in the global variable + pcre_callout (8-bit library) or pcre16_callout (16-bit library). By default, this variable contains NULL, which disables all calling out. - Within a regular expression, (?C) indicates the points at which the - external function is to be called. If you want to identify different - callout points, you can put a number less than 256 after the letter C. - The default value is zero. For example, this pattern has two callout + Within a regular expression, (?C) indicates the points at which the + external function is to be called. If you want to identify different + callout points, you can put a number less than 256 after the letter C. + The default value is zero. For example, this pattern has two callout points: (?C1)abc(?C2)def - If the PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT flag is passed to a compiling function, call- - outs are automatically installed before each item in the pattern. They + If the PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT flag is passed to a compiling function, call- + outs are automatically installed before each item in the pattern. They are all numbered 255. - During matching, when PCRE reaches a callout point, the external func- - tion is called. It is provided with the number of the callout, the - position in the pattern, and, optionally, one item of data originally - supplied by the caller of the matching function. The callout function - may cause matching to proceed, to backtrack, or to fail altogether. A - complete description of the interface to the callout function is given + During matching, when PCRE reaches a callout point, the external func- + tion is called. It is provided with the number of the callout, the + position in the pattern, and, optionally, one item of data originally + supplied by the caller of the matching function. The callout function + may cause matching to proceed, to backtrack, or to fail altogether. A + complete description of the interface to the callout function is given in the pcrecallout documentation. BACKTRACKING CONTROL - Perl 5.10 introduced a number of "Special Backtracking Control Verbs", + Perl 5.10 introduced a number of "Special Backtracking Control Verbs", which are described in the Perl documentation as "experimental and sub- - ject to change or removal in a future version of Perl". It goes on to - say: "Their usage in production code should be noted to avoid problems + ject to change or removal in a future version of Perl". It goes on to + say: "Their usage in production code should be noted to avoid problems during upgrades." The same remarks apply to the PCRE features described in this section. - Since these verbs are specifically related to backtracking, most of - them can be used only when the pattern is to be matched using one of + Since these verbs are specifically related to backtracking, most of + them can be used only when the pattern is to be matched using one of the traditional matching functions, which use a backtracking algorithm. - With the exception of (*FAIL), which behaves like a failing negative - assertion, they cause an error if encountered by a DFA matching func- + With the exception of (*FAIL), which behaves like a failing negative + assertion, they cause an error if encountered by a DFA matching func- tion. - If any of these verbs are used in an assertion or in a subpattern that + If any of these verbs are used in an assertion or in a subpattern that is called as a subroutine (whether or not recursively), their effect is confined to that subpattern; it does not extend to the surrounding pat- tern, with one exception: the name from a *(MARK), (*PRUNE), or (*THEN) - that is encountered in a successful positive assertion is passed back - when a match succeeds (compare capturing parentheses in assertions). + that is encountered in a successful positive assertion is passed back + when a match succeeds (compare capturing parentheses in assertions). Note that such subpatterns are processed as anchored at the point where - they are tested. Note also that Perl's treatment of subroutines is dif- - ferent in some cases. + they are tested. Note also that Perl's treatment of subroutines and + assertions is different in some cases. - The new verbs make use of what was previously invalid syntax: an open- + The new verbs make use of what was previously invalid syntax: an open- ing parenthesis followed by an asterisk. They are generally of the form - (*VERB) or (*VERB:NAME). Some may take either form, with differing be- - haviour, depending on whether or not an argument is present. A name is + (*VERB) or (*VERB:NAME). Some may take either form, with differing be- + haviour, depending on whether or not an argument is present. A name is any sequence of characters that does not include a closing parenthesis. - If the name is empty, that is, if the closing parenthesis immediately - follows the colon, the effect is as if the colon were not there. Any - number of these verbs may occur in a pattern. + The maximum length of name is 255 in the 8-bit library and 65535 in the + 16-bit library. If the name is empty, that is, if the closing parenthe- + sis immediately follows the colon, the effect is as if the colon were + not there. Any number of these verbs may occur in a pattern. + Optimizations that affect backtracking verbs + PCRE contains some optimizations that are used to speed up matching by running some checks at the start of each match attempt. For example, it may know the minimum length of matching subject, or that a particular @@ -6189,6 +6230,8 @@ BACKTRACKING CONTROL course, be processed. You can suppress the start-of-match optimizations by setting the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option when calling pcre_com- pile() or pcre_exec(), or by starting the pattern with (*NO_START_OPT). + There is more discussion of this option in the section entitled "Option + bits for pcre_exec()" in the pcreapi documentation. Experiments with Perl suggest that it too has similar optimizations, sometimes leading to anomalous results. @@ -6268,10 +6311,14 @@ BACKTRACKING CONTROL No match, mark = B Note that in this unanchored example the mark is retained from the - match attempt that started at the letter "X". Subsequent match attempts - starting at "P" and then with an empty string do not get as far as the - (*MARK) item, but nevertheless do not reset it. + match attempt that started at the letter "X" in the subject. Subsequent + match attempts starting at "P" and then with an empty string do not get + as far as the (*MARK) item, but nevertheless do not reset it. + If you are interested in (*MARK) values after failed matches, you + should probably set the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option (see above) to + ensure that the match is always attempted. + Verbs that act after backtracking The following verbs do nothing when they are encountered. Matching con- @@ -6448,7 +6495,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 09 January 2012 + Last updated: 17 June 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -6478,7 +6525,7 @@ CHARACTERS \a alarm, that is, the BEL character (hex 07) \cx "control-x", where x is any ASCII character \e escape (hex 1B) - \f formfeed (hex 0C) + \f form feed (hex 0C) \n newline (hex 0A) \r carriage return (hex 0D) \t tab (hex 09) @@ -6494,16 +6541,16 @@ CHARACTER TYPES \C one data unit, even in UTF mode (best avoided) \d a decimal digit \D a character that is not a decimal digit - \h a horizontal whitespace character - \H a character that is not a horizontal whitespace character + \h a horizontal white space character + \H a character that is not a horizontal white space character \N a character that is not a newline \p{xx} a character with the xx property \P{xx} a character without the xx property \R a newline sequence - \s a whitespace character - \S a character that is not a whitespace character - \v a vertical whitespace character - \V a character that is not a vertical whitespace character + \s a white space character + \S a character that is not a white space character + \v a vertical white space character + \V a character that is not a vertical white space character \w a "word" character \W a "non-word" character \X an extended Unicode sequence @@ -6571,20 +6618,22 @@ PCRE SPECIAL CATEGORY PROPERTIES FOR \p and \P SCRIPT NAMES FOR \p AND \P - Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Balinese, Bamum, Bengali, Bopomofo, Braille, - Buginese, Buhid, Canadian_Aboriginal, Carian, Cham, Cherokee, Common, - Coptic, Cuneiform, Cypriot, Cyrillic, Deseret, Devanagari, Egyp- - tian_Hieroglyphs, Ethiopic, Georgian, Glagolitic, Gothic, Greek, - Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hanunoo, Hebrew, Hiragana, Impe- - rial_Aramaic, Inherited, Inscriptional_Pahlavi, Inscriptional_Parthian, - Javanese, Kaithi, Kannada, Katakana, Kayah_Li, Kharoshthi, Khmer, Lao, - Latin, Lepcha, Limbu, Linear_B, Lisu, Lycian, Lydian, Malayalam, - Meetei_Mayek, Mongolian, Myanmar, New_Tai_Lue, Nko, Ogham, Old_Italic, - Old_Persian, Old_South_Arabian, Old_Turkic, Ol_Chiki, Oriya, Osmanya, - Phags_Pa, Phoenician, Rejang, Runic, Samaritan, Saurashtra, Shavian, - Sinhala, Sundanese, Syloti_Nagri, Syriac, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai_Le, - Tai_Tham, Tai_Viet, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, Thai, Tibetan, Tifinagh, - Ugaritic, Vai, Yi. + Arabic, Armenian, Avestan, Balinese, Bamum, Batak, Bengali, Bopomofo, + Brahmi, Braille, Buginese, Buhid, Canadian_Aboriginal, Carian, Chakma, + Cham, Cherokee, Common, Coptic, Cuneiform, Cypriot, Cyrillic, Deseret, + Devanagari, Egyptian_Hieroglyphs, Ethiopic, Georgian, Glagolitic, + Gothic, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Han, Hangul, Hanunoo, Hebrew, Hira- + gana, Imperial_Aramaic, Inherited, Inscriptional_Pahlavi, Inscrip- + tional_Parthian, Javanese, Kaithi, Kannada, Katakana, Kayah_Li, + Kharoshthi, Khmer, Lao, Latin, Lepcha, Limbu, Linear_B, Lisu, Lycian, + Lydian, Malayalam, Mandaic, Meetei_Mayek, Meroitic_Cursive, + Meroitic_Hieroglyphs, Miao, Mongolian, Myanmar, New_Tai_Lue, Nko, + Ogham, Old_Italic, Old_Persian, Old_South_Arabian, Old_Turkic, + Ol_Chiki, Oriya, Osmanya, Phags_Pa, Phoenician, Rejang, Runic, Samari- + tan, Saurashtra, Sharada, Shavian, Sinhala, Sora_Sompeng, Sundanese, + Syloti_Nagri, Syriac, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai_Le, Tai_Tham, Tai_Viet, + Takri, Tamil, Telugu, Thaana, Thai, Tibetan, Tifinagh, Ugaritic, Vai, + Yi. CHARACTER CLASSES @@ -6605,7 +6654,7 @@ CHARACTER CLASSES lower lower case letter print printing, including space punct printing, excluding alphanumeric - space whitespace + space white space upper upper case letter word same as \w xdigit hexadecimal digit @@ -6889,127 +6938,130 @@ UNICODE PROPERTY SUPPORT When you set the PCRE_UTF8 flag, the byte strings passed as patterns and subjects are (by default) checked for validity on entry to the rel- - evant functions. From release 7.3 of PCRE, the check is according the + evant functions. The entire string is checked before any other process- + ing takes place. From release 7.3 of PCRE, the check is according the rules of RFC 3629, which are themselves derived from the Unicode speci- - fication. Earlier releases of PCRE followed the rules of RFC 2279, - which allows the full range of 31-bit values (0 to 0x7FFFFFFF). The - current check allows only values in the range U+0 to U+10FFFF, exclud- + fication. Earlier releases of PCRE followed the rules of RFC 2279, + which allows the full range of 31-bit values (0 to 0x7FFFFFFF). The + current check allows only values in the range U+0 to U+10FFFF, exclud- ing U+D800 to U+DFFF. - The excluded code points are the "Surrogate Area" of Unicode. They are - reserved for use by UTF-16, where they are used in pairs to encode - codepoints with values greater than 0xFFFF. The code points that are + The excluded code points are the "Surrogate Area" of Unicode. They are + reserved for use by UTF-16, where they are used in pairs to encode + codepoints with values greater than 0xFFFF. The code points that are encoded by UTF-16 pairs are available independently in the UTF-8 encod- - ing. (In other words, the whole surrogate thing is a fudge for UTF-16 + ing. (In other words, the whole surrogate thing is a fudge for UTF-16 which unfortunately messes up UTF-8.) If an invalid UTF-8 string is passed to PCRE, an error return is given. - At compile time, the only additional information is the offset to the - first byte of the failing character. The runtime functions pcre_exec() - and pcre_dfa_exec() also pass back this information, as well as a more - detailed reason code if the caller has provided memory in which to do + At compile time, the only additional information is the offset to the + first byte of the failing character. The run-time functions pcre_exec() + and pcre_dfa_exec() also pass back this information, as well as a more + detailed reason code if the caller has provided memory in which to do this. - In some situations, you may already know that your strings are valid, - and therefore want to skip these checks in order to improve perfor- - mance. If you set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK flag at compile time or at run - time, PCRE assumes that the pattern or subject it is given (respec- - tively) contains only valid UTF-8 codes. In this case, it does not - diagnose an invalid UTF-8 string. + In some situations, you may already know that your strings are valid, + and therefore want to skip these checks in order to improve perfor- + mance, for example in the case of a long subject string that is being + scanned repeatedly with different patterns. If you set the + PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK flag at compile time or at run time, PCRE assumes + that the pattern or subject it is given (respectively) contains only + valid UTF-8 codes. In this case, it does not diagnose an invalid UTF-8 + string. - If you pass an invalid UTF-8 string when PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK is set, - what happens depends on why the string is invalid. If the string con- + If you pass an invalid UTF-8 string when PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK is set, + what happens depends on why the string is invalid. If the string con- forms to the "old" definition of UTF-8 (RFC 2279), it is processed as a - string of characters in the range 0 to 0x7FFFFFFF by pcre_dfa_exec() - and the interpreted version of pcre_exec(). In other words, apart from - the initial validity test, these functions (when in UTF-8 mode) handle - strings according to the more liberal rules of RFC 2279. However, the + string of characters in the range 0 to 0x7FFFFFFF by pcre_dfa_exec() + and the interpreted version of pcre_exec(). In other words, apart from + the initial validity test, these functions (when in UTF-8 mode) handle + strings according to the more liberal rules of RFC 2279. However, the just-in-time (JIT) optimization for pcre_exec() supports only RFC 3629. - If you are using JIT optimization, or if the string does not even con- + If you are using JIT optimization, or if the string does not even con- form to RFC 2279, the result is undefined. Your program may crash. - If you want to process strings of values in the full range 0 to - 0x7FFFFFFF, encoded in a UTF-8-like manner as per the old RFC, you can + If you want to process strings of values in the full range 0 to + 0x7FFFFFFF, encoded in a UTF-8-like manner as per the old RFC, you can set PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK to bypass the more restrictive test. However, in - this situation, you will have to apply your own validity check, and + this situation, you will have to apply your own validity check, and avoid the use of JIT optimization. Validity of UTF-16 strings When you set the PCRE_UTF16 flag, the strings of 16-bit data units that are passed as patterns and subjects are (by default) checked for valid- - ity on entry to the relevant functions. Values other than those in the + ity on entry to the relevant functions. Values other than those in the surrogate range U+D800 to U+DFFF are independent code points. Values in the surrogate range must be used in pairs in the correct manner. - If an invalid UTF-16 string is passed to PCRE, an error return is - given. At compile time, the only additional information is the offset - to the first data unit of the failing character. The runtime functions + If an invalid UTF-16 string is passed to PCRE, an error return is + given. At compile time, the only additional information is the offset + to the first data unit of the failing character. The run-time functions pcre16_exec() and pcre16_dfa_exec() also pass back this information, as - well as a more detailed reason code if the caller has provided memory + well as a more detailed reason code if the caller has provided memory in which to do this. - In some situations, you may already know that your strings are valid, - and therefore want to skip these checks in order to improve perfor- - mance. If you set the PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK flag at compile time or at + In some situations, you may already know that your strings are valid, + and therefore want to skip these checks in order to improve perfor- + mance. If you set the PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK flag at compile time or at run time, PCRE assumes that the pattern or subject it is given (respec- tively) contains only valid UTF-16 sequences. In this case, it does not diagnose an invalid UTF-16 string. General comments about UTF modes - 1. Codepoints less than 256 can be specified by either braced or - unbraced hexadecimal escape sequences (for example, \x{b3} or \xb3). + 1. Codepoints less than 256 can be specified by either braced or + unbraced hexadecimal escape sequences (for example, \x{b3} or \xb3). Larger values have to use braced sequences. - 2. Octal numbers up to \777 are recognized, and in UTF-8 mode, they + 2. Octal numbers up to \777 are recognized, and in UTF-8 mode, they match two-byte characters for values greater than \177. 3. Repeat quantifiers apply to complete UTF characters, not to individ- ual data units, for example: \x{100}{3}. - 4. The dot metacharacter matches one UTF character instead of a single + 4. The dot metacharacter matches one UTF character instead of a single data unit. - 5. The escape sequence \C can be used to match a single byte in UTF-8 + 5. The escape sequence \C can be used to match a single byte in UTF-8 mode, or a single 16-bit data unit in UTF-16 mode, but its use can lead to some strange effects because it breaks up multi-unit characters (see - the description of \C in the pcrepattern documentation). The use of \C - is not supported in the alternative matching function - pcre[16]_dfa_exec(), nor is it supported in UTF mode by the JIT opti- + the description of \C in the pcrepattern documentation). The use of \C + is not supported in the alternative matching function + pcre[16]_dfa_exec(), nor is it supported in UTF mode by the JIT opti- mization of pcre[16]_exec(). If JIT optimization is requested for a UTF pattern that contains \C, it will not succeed, and so the matching will be carried out by the normal interpretive function. - 6. The character escapes \b, \B, \d, \D, \s, \S, \w, and \W correctly + 6. The character escapes \b, \B, \d, \D, \s, \S, \w, and \W correctly test characters of any code value, but, by default, the characters that - PCRE recognizes as digits, spaces, or word characters remain the same - set as in non-UTF mode, all with values less than 256. This remains - true even when PCRE is built to include Unicode property support, + PCRE recognizes as digits, spaces, or word characters remain the same + set as in non-UTF mode, all with values less than 256. This remains + true even when PCRE is built to include Unicode property support, because to do otherwise would slow down PCRE in many common cases. Note - in particular that this applies to \b and \B, because they are defined + in particular that this applies to \b and \B, because they are defined in terms of \w and \W. If you really want to test for a wider sense of, - say, "digit", you can use explicit Unicode property tests such as + say, "digit", you can use explicit Unicode property tests such as \p{Nd}. Alternatively, if you set the PCRE_UCP option, the way that the - character escapes work is changed so that Unicode properties are used + character escapes work is changed so that Unicode properties are used to determine which characters match. There are more details in the sec- tion on generic character types in the pcrepattern documentation. - 7. Similarly, characters that match the POSIX named character classes + 7. Similarly, characters that match the POSIX named character classes are all low-valued characters, unless the PCRE_UCP option is set. - 8. However, the horizontal and vertical whitespace matching escapes - (\h, \H, \v, and \V) do match all the appropriate Unicode characters, + 8. However, the horizontal and vertical white space matching escapes + (\h, \H, \v, and \V) do match all the appropriate Unicode characters, whether or not PCRE_UCP is set. - 9. Case-insensitive matching applies only to characters whose values - are less than 128, unless PCRE is built with Unicode property support. - Even when Unicode property support is available, PCRE still uses its - own character tables when checking the case of low-valued characters, - so as not to degrade performance. The Unicode property information is + 9. Case-insensitive matching applies only to characters whose values + are less than 128, unless PCRE is built with Unicode property support. + Even when Unicode property support is available, PCRE still uses its + own character tables when checking the case of low-valued characters, + so as not to degrade performance. The Unicode property information is used only for characters with higher values. Furthermore, PCRE supports - case-insensitive matching only when there is a one-to-one mapping - between a letter's cases. There are a small number of many-to-one map- + case-insensitive matching only when there is a one-to-one mapping + between a letter's cases. There are a small number of many-to-one map- pings in Unicode; these are not supported by PCRE. @@ -7022,7 +7074,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 13 January 2012 + Last updated: 14 April 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -7072,15 +7124,13 @@ AVAILABILITY OF JIT SUPPORT MIPS 32-bit Power PC 32-bit and 64-bit - The Power PC support is designated as experimental because it has not - been fully tested. If --enable-jit is set on an unsupported platform, - compilation fails. + If --enable-jit is set on an unsupported platform, compilation fails. A program that is linked with PCRE 8.20 or later can tell if JIT sup- port is available by calling pcre_config() with the PCRE_CONFIG_JIT option. The result is 1 when JIT is available, and 0 otherwise. How- ever, a simple program does not need to check this in order to use JIT. - The API is implemented in a way that falls back to the ordinary PCRE + The API is implemented in a way that falls back to the interpretive code if JIT is not available. If your program may sometimes be linked with versions of PCRE that are @@ -7099,7 +7149,7 @@ SIMPLE USE OF JIT pcre_exec(). (2) Use pcre_free_study() to free the pcre_extra block when it is - no longer needed instead of just freeing it yourself. This + no longer needed, instead of just freeing it yourself. This ensures that any JIT data is also freed. For a program that may be linked with pre-8.20 versions of PCRE, you @@ -7118,30 +7168,51 @@ SIMPLE USE OF JIT pcre_free(study_ptr); #endif - In some circumstances you may need to call additional functions. These - are described in the section entitled "Controlling the JIT stack" + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE requests the JIT compiler to generate code for + complete matches. If you want to run partial matches using the + PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD or PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT options of pcre_exec(), you + should set one or both of the following options in addition to, or + instead of, PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE when you call pcre_study(): + + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_HARD_COMPILE + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_SOFT_COMPILE + + The JIT compiler generates different optimized code for each of the + three modes (normal, soft partial, hard partial). When pcre_exec() is + called, the appropriate code is run if it is available. Otherwise, the + pattern is matched using interpretive code. + + In some circumstances you may need to call additional functions. These + are described in the section entitled "Controlling the JIT stack" below. - If JIT support is not available, PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE is ignored, and - no JIT data is set up. Otherwise, the compiled pattern is passed to the - JIT compiler, which turns it into machine code that executes much - faster than the normal interpretive code. When pcre_exec() is passed a - pcre_extra block containing a pointer to JIT code, it obeys that - instead of the normal code. The result is identical, but the code runs - much faster. + If JIT support is not available, PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE etc. are + ignored, and no JIT data is created. Otherwise, the compiled pattern is + passed to the JIT compiler, which turns it into machine code that exe- + cutes much faster than the normal interpretive code. When pcre_exec() + is passed a pcre_extra block containing a pointer to JIT code of the + appropriate mode (normal or hard/soft partial), it obeys that code + instead of running the interpreter. The result is identical, but the + compiled JIT code runs much faster. There are some pcre_exec() options that are not supported for JIT exe- cution. There are also some pattern items that JIT cannot handle. Details are given below. In both cases, execution automatically falls - back to the interpretive code. + back to the interpretive code. If you want to know whether JIT was + actually used for a particular match, you should arrange for a JIT + callback function to be set up as described in the section entitled + "Controlling the JIT stack" below, even if you do not need to supply a + non-default JIT stack. Such a callback function is called whenever JIT + code is about to be obeyed. If the execution options are not right for + JIT execution, the callback function is not obeyed. If the JIT compiler finds an unsupported item, no JIT data is gener- ated. You can find out if JIT execution is available after studying a pattern by calling pcre_fullinfo() with the PCRE_INFO_JIT option. A result of 1 means that JIT compilation was successful. A result of 0 means that JIT support is not available, or the pattern was not studied - with PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE, or the JIT compiler was not able to handle - the pattern. + with PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE etc., or the JIT compiler was not able to + handle the pattern. Once a pattern has been studied, with or without JIT, it can be used as many times as you like for matching different subject strings. @@ -7150,18 +7221,16 @@ SIMPLE USE OF JIT UNSUPPORTED OPTIONS AND PATTERN ITEMS The only pcre_exec() options that are supported for JIT execution are - PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, and - PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART. Note in particular that partial matching is not - supported. + PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, + PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, and PCRE_PAR- + TIAL_SOFT. The unsupported pattern items are: \C match a single byte; not supported in UTF-8 mode (?Cn) callouts - (*COMMIT) ) - (*MARK) ) - (*PRUNE) ) the backtracking control verbs - (*SKIP) ) + (*PRUNE) ) + (*SKIP) ) backtracking control verbs (*THEN) ) Support for some of these may be added in future. @@ -7228,7 +7297,7 @@ CONTROLLING THE JIT STACK void *data The extra argument must be the result of studying a pattern with - PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE. There are three cases for the values of the + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE etc. There are three cases for the values of the other two options: (1) If callback is NULL and data is NULL, an internal 32K block @@ -7237,26 +7306,38 @@ CONTROLLING THE JIT STACK (2) If callback is NULL and data is not NULL, data must be a valid JIT stack, the result of calling pcre_jit_stack_alloc(). - (3) If callback not NULL, it must point to a function that is called - with data as an argument at the start of matching, in order to - set up a JIT stack. If the result is NULL, the internal 32K stack - is used; otherwise the return value must be a valid JIT stack, - the result of calling pcre_jit_stack_alloc(). + (3) If callback is not NULL, it must point to a function that is + called with data as an argument at the start of matching, in + order to set up a JIT stack. If the return from the callback + function is NULL, the internal 32K stack is used; otherwise the + return value must be a valid JIT stack, the result of calling + pcre_jit_stack_alloc(). - You may safely assign the same JIT stack to more than one pattern, as - long as they are all matched sequentially in the same thread. In a mul- - tithread application, each thread must use its own JIT stack. + A callback function is obeyed whenever JIT code is about to be run; it + is not obeyed when pcre_exec() is called with options that are incom- + patible for JIT execution. A callback function can therefore be used to + determine whether a match operation was executed by JIT or by the + interpreter. - Strictly speaking, even more is allowed. You can assign the same stack - to any number of patterns as long as they are not used for matching by - multiple threads at the same time. For example, you can assign the same - stack to all compiled patterns, and use a global mutex in the callback - to wait until the stack is available for use. However, this is an inef- - ficient solution, and not recommended. + You may safely use the same JIT stack for more than one pattern (either + by assigning directly or by callback), as long as the patterns are all + matched sequentially in the same thread. In a multithread application, + if you do not specify a JIT stack, or if you assign or pass back NULL + from a callback, that is thread-safe, because each thread has its own + machine stack. However, if you assign or pass back a non-NULL JIT + stack, this must be a different stack for each thread so that the + application is thread-safe. - This is a suggestion for how a typical multithreaded program might - operate: + Strictly speaking, even more is allowed. You can assign the same non- + NULL stack to any number of patterns as long as they are not used for + matching by multiple threads at the same time. For example, you can + assign the same stack to all compiled patterns, and use a global mutex + in the callback to wait until the stack is available for use. However, + this is an inefficient solution, and not recommended. + This is a suggestion for how a multithreaded program that needs to set + up non-default JIT stacks might operate: + During thread initalization thread_local_var = pcre_jit_stack_alloc(...) @@ -7266,83 +7347,83 @@ CONTROLLING THE JIT STACK Use a one-line callback function return thread_local_var - All the functions described in this section do nothing if JIT is not - available, and pcre_assign_jit_stack() does nothing unless the extra - argument is non-NULL and points to a pcre_extra block that is the - result of a successful study with PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE. + All the functions described in this section do nothing if JIT is not + available, and pcre_assign_jit_stack() does nothing unless the extra + argument is non-NULL and points to a pcre_extra block that is the + result of a successful study with PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE etc. JIT STACK FAQ (1) Why do we need JIT stacks? - PCRE (and JIT) is a recursive, depth-first engine, so it needs a stack - where the local data of the current node is pushed before checking its + PCRE (and JIT) is a recursive, depth-first engine, so it needs a stack + where the local data of the current node is pushed before checking its child nodes. Allocating real machine stack on some platforms is diffi- cult. For example, the stack chain needs to be updated every time if we - extend the stack on PowerPC. Although it is possible, its updating + extend the stack on PowerPC. Although it is possible, its updating time overhead decreases performance. So we do the recursion in memory. (2) Why don't we simply allocate blocks of memory with malloc()? - Modern operating systems have a nice feature: they can reserve an + Modern operating systems have a nice feature: they can reserve an address space instead of allocating memory. We can safely allocate mem- - ory pages inside this address space, so the stack could grow without + ory pages inside this address space, so the stack could grow without moving memory data (this is important because of pointers). Thus we can - allocate 1M address space, and use only a single memory page (usually - 4K) if that is enough. However, we can still grow up to 1M anytime if + allocate 1M address space, and use only a single memory page (usually + 4K) if that is enough. However, we can still grow up to 1M anytime if needed. (3) Who "owns" a JIT stack? The owner of the stack is the user program, not the JIT studied pattern - or anything else. The user program must ensure that if a stack is used - by pcre_exec(), (that is, it is assigned to the pattern currently run- + or anything else. The user program must ensure that if a stack is used + by pcre_exec(), (that is, it is assigned to the pattern currently run- ning), that stack must not be used by any other threads (to avoid over- writing the same memory area). The best practice for multithreaded pro- - grams is to allocate a stack for each thread, and return this stack + grams is to allocate a stack for each thread, and return this stack through the JIT callback function. (4) When should a JIT stack be freed? You can free a JIT stack at any time, as long as it will not be used by - pcre_exec() again. When you assign the stack to a pattern, only a - pointer is set. There is no reference counting or any other magic. You - can free the patterns and stacks in any order, anytime. Just do not - call pcre_exec() with a pattern pointing to an already freed stack, as - that will cause SEGFAULT. (Also, do not free a stack currently used by - pcre_exec() in another thread). You can also replace the stack for a - pattern at any time. You can even free the previous stack before + pcre_exec() again. When you assign the stack to a pattern, only a + pointer is set. There is no reference counting or any other magic. You + can free the patterns and stacks in any order, anytime. Just do not + call pcre_exec() with a pattern pointing to an already freed stack, as + that will cause SEGFAULT. (Also, do not free a stack currently used by + pcre_exec() in another thread). You can also replace the stack for a + pattern at any time. You can even free the previous stack before assigning a replacement. - (5) Should I allocate/free a stack every time before/after calling + (5) Should I allocate/free a stack every time before/after calling pcre_exec()? - No, because this is too costly in terms of resources. However, you - could implement some clever idea which release the stack if it is not + No, because this is too costly in terms of resources. However, you + could implement some clever idea which release the stack if it is not used in let's say two minutes. The JIT callback can help to achive this without keeping a list of the currently JIT studied patterns. - (6) OK, the stack is for long term memory allocation. But what happens - if a pattern causes stack overflow with a stack of 1M? Is that 1M kept + (6) OK, the stack is for long term memory allocation. But what happens + if a pattern causes stack overflow with a stack of 1M? Is that 1M kept until the stack is freed? - Especially on embedded sytems, it might be a good idea to release mem- - ory sometimes without freeing the stack. There is no API for this at - the moment. Probably a function call which returns with the currently - allocated memory for any stack and another which allows releasing mem- + Especially on embedded sytems, it might be a good idea to release mem- + ory sometimes without freeing the stack. There is no API for this at + the moment. Probably a function call which returns with the currently + allocated memory for any stack and another which allows releasing mem- ory (shrinking the stack) would be a good idea if someone needs this. (7) This is too much of a headache. Isn't there any better solution for JIT stack handling? - No, thanks to Windows. If POSIX threads were used everywhere, we could + No, thanks to Windows. If POSIX threads were used everywhere, we could throw out this complicated API. EXAMPLE CODE - This is a single-threaded example that specifies a JIT stack without + This is a single-threaded example that specifies a JIT stack without using a callback. int rc; @@ -7378,7 +7459,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 08 January 2012 + Last updated: 04 May 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -7422,11 +7503,20 @@ PARTIAL MATCHING IN PCRE matching function. If both options are set, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD takes precedence. - Setting a partial matching option disables the use of any just-in-time - code that was set up by studying the compiled pattern with the - PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option. It also disables two of PCRE's standard - optimizations. PCRE remembers the last literal data unit in a pattern, - and abandons matching immediately if it is not present in the subject + If you want to use partial matching with just-in-time optimized code, + you must call pcre_study() or pcre16_study() with one or both of these + options: + + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_SOFT_COMPILE + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_HARD_COMPILE + + PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE should also be set if you are going to run non- + partial matches on the same pattern. If the appropriate JIT study mode + has not been set for a match, the interpretive matching code is used. + + Setting a partial matching option disables two of PCRE's standard opti- + mizations. PCRE remembers the last literal data unit in a pattern, and + abandons matching immediately if it is not present in the subject string. This optimization cannot be used for a subject string that might match only partially. If the pattern was studied, PCRE knows the minimum length of a matching string, and does not bother to run the @@ -7682,7 +7772,7 @@ MULTI-SEGMENT MATCHING WITH pcre_exec() OR pcre16_exec At this stage, an application could discard the text preceding "23ja", add on text from the next segment, and call the matching function - again. Unlike the DFA matching functions the entire matching string + again. Unlike the DFA matching functions, the entire matching string must always be available, and the complete matching process occurs for each call, so more memory and more processing time is needed. @@ -7690,7 +7780,8 @@ MULTI-SEGMENT MATCHING WITH pcre_exec() OR pcre16_exec with \b or \B, the string that is returned for a partial match includes characters that precede the partially matched string itself, because these must be retained when adding on more characters for a subsequent - matching attempt. + matching attempt. However, in some cases you may need to retain even + earlier characters, as discussed in the next section. ISSUES WITH MULTI-SEGMENT MATCHING @@ -7699,20 +7790,37 @@ ISSUES WITH MULTI-SEGMENT MATCHING whichever matching function is used. 1. If the pattern contains a test for the beginning of a line, you need - to pass the PCRE_NOTBOL option when the subject string for any call - does start at the beginning of a line. There is also a PCRE_NOTEOL + to pass the PCRE_NOTBOL option when the subject string for any call + does start at the beginning of a line. There is also a PCRE_NOTEOL option, but in practice when doing multi-segment matching you should be using PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, which includes the effect of PCRE_NOTEOL. - 2. Lookbehind assertions at the start of a pattern are catered for in - the offsets that are returned for a partial match. However, in theory, - a lookbehind assertion later in the pattern could require even earlier - characters to be inspected, and it might not have been reached when a - partial match occurs. This is probably an extremely unlikely case; you - could guard against it to a certain extent by always including extra - characters at the start. + 2. Lookbehind assertions that have already been obeyed are catered for + in the offsets that are returned for a partial match. However a lookbe- + hind assertion later in the pattern could require even earlier charac- + ters to be inspected. You can handle this case by using the + PCRE_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND option of the pcre_fullinfo() or + pcre16_fullinfo() functions to obtain the length of the largest lookbe- + hind in the pattern. This length is given in characters, not bytes. If + you always retain at least that many characters before the partially + matched string, all should be well. (Of course, near the start of the + subject, fewer characters may be present; in that case all characters + should be retained.) - 3. Matching a subject string that is split into multiple segments may + 3. Because a partial match must always contain at least one character, + what might be considered a partial match of an empty string actually + gives a "no match" result. For example: + + re> /c(?<=abc)x/ + data> ab\P + No match + + If the next segment begins "cx", a match should be found, but this will + only happen if characters from the previous segment are retained. For + this reason, a "no match" result should be interpreted as "partial + match of an empty string" when the pattern contains lookbehinds. + + 4. Matching a subject string that is split into multiple segments may not always produce exactly the same result as matching over one single long string, especially when PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT is used. The section "Partial Matching and Word Boundaries" above describes an issue that @@ -7756,7 +7864,7 @@ ISSUES WITH MULTI-SEGMENT MATCHING data> gsb\R\P\P\D Partial match: gsb - 4. Patterns that contain alternatives at the top level which do not all + 5. Patterns that contain alternatives at the top level which do not all start with the same pattern item may not work as expected when PCRE_DFA_RESTART is used. For example, consider this pattern: @@ -7801,7 +7909,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 21 January 2012 + Last updated: 24 February 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ @@ -8551,7 +8659,7 @@ PASSING MODIFIERS TO THE REGULAR EXPRESSION ENGINE PCRE_DOTALL dot matches newlines /s PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY $ matches only at end N/A PCRE_EXTRA strict escape parsing N/A - PCRE_EXTENDED ignore whitespaces /x + PCRE_EXTENDED ignore white spaces /x PCRE_UTF8 handles UTF8 chars built-in PCRE_UNGREEDY reverses * and *? N/A PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE disables capturing parens N/A (*) @@ -8839,6 +8947,10 @@ SIZE AND OTHER LIMITATIONS The maximum length of name for a named subpattern is 32 characters, and the maximum number of named subpatterns is 10000. + The maximum length of a name in a (*MARK), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), or + (*THEN) verb is 255 for the 8-bit library and 65535 for the 16-bit + library. + The maximum length of a subject string is the largest positive number that an integer variable can hold. However, when using the traditional matching function, PCRE uses recursion to handle subpatterns and indef- @@ -8856,7 +8968,7 @@ AUTHOR REVISION - Last updated: 08 January 2012 + Last updated: 04 May 2012 Copyright (c) 1997-2012 University of Cambridge. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------