Annotation of embedaddon/pcre/doc/pcretest.1, revision 1.1.1.4
1.1.1.4 ! misho 1: .TH PCRETEST 1 "26 April 2013" "PCRE 8.33"
1.1 misho 2: .SH NAME
3: pcretest - a program for testing Perl-compatible regular expressions.
4: .SH SYNOPSIS
5: .rs
6: .sp
7: .B pcretest "[options] [input file [output file]]"
8: .sp
9: \fBpcretest\fP was written as a test program for the PCRE regular expression
10: library itself, but it can also be used for experimenting with regular
11: expressions. This document describes the features of the test program; for
12: details of the regular expressions themselves, see the
13: .\" HREF
14: \fBpcrepattern\fP
15: .\"
16: documentation. For details of the PCRE library function calls and their
17: options, see the
18: .\" HREF
19: \fBpcreapi\fP
20: .\"
1.1.1.4 ! misho 21: ,
1.1.1.2 misho 22: .\" HREF
23: \fBpcre16\fP
1.1.1.4 ! misho 24: and
! 25: .\" HREF
! 26: \fBpcre32\fP
1.1.1.2 misho 27: .\"
1.1.1.4 ! misho 28: documentation.
! 29: .P
! 30: The input for \fBpcretest\fP is a sequence of regular expression patterns and
! 31: strings to be matched, as described below. The output shows the result of each
! 32: match. Options on the command line and the patterns control PCRE options and
! 33: exactly what is output.
! 34: .P
! 35: As PCRE has evolved, it has acquired many different features, and as a result,
! 36: \fBpcretest\fP now has rather a lot of obscure options for testing every
! 37: possible feature. Some of these options are specifically designed for use in
! 38: conjunction with the test script and data files that are distributed as part of
! 39: PCRE, and are unlikely to be of use otherwise. They are all documented here,
! 40: but without much justification.
1.1 misho 41: .
42: .
1.1.1.4 ! misho 43: .SH "INPUT DATA FORMAT"
! 44: .rs
! 45: .sp
! 46: Input to \fBpcretest\fP is processed line by line, either by calling the C
! 47: library's \fBfgets()\fP function, or via the \fBlibreadline\fP library (see
! 48: below). In Unix-like environments, \fBfgets()\fP treats any bytes other than
! 49: newline as data characters. However, in some Windows environments character 26
! 50: (hex 1A) causes an immediate end of file, and no further data is read. For
! 51: maximum portability, therefore, it is safest to use only ASCII characters in
! 52: \fBpcretest\fP input files.
! 53: .
! 54: .
! 55: .SH "PCRE's 8-BIT, 16-BIT AND 32-BIT LIBRARIES"
1.1.1.2 misho 56: .rs
57: .sp
58: From release 8.30, two separate PCRE libraries can be built. The original one
59: supports 8-bit character strings, whereas the newer 16-bit library supports
1.1.1.4 ! misho 60: character strings encoded in 16-bit units. From release 8.32, a third library
! 61: can be built, supporting character strings encoded in 32-bit units. The
! 62: \fBpcretest\fP program can be used to test all three libraries. However, it is
! 63: itself still an 8-bit program, reading 8-bit input and writing 8-bit output.
! 64: When testing the 16-bit or 32-bit library, the patterns and data strings are
! 65: converted to 16- or 32-bit format before being passed to the PCRE library
! 66: functions. Results are converted to 8-bit for output.
! 67: .P
! 68: References to functions and structures of the form \fBpcre[16|32]_xx\fP below
! 69: mean "\fBpcre_xx\fP when using the 8-bit library, \fBpcre16_xx\fP when using
! 70: the 16-bit library, or \fBpcre32_xx\fP when using the 32-bit library".
1.1.1.2 misho 71: .
72: .
73: .SH "COMMAND LINE OPTIONS"
1.1 misho 74: .rs
75: .TP 10
1.1.1.4 ! misho 76: \fB-8\fP
! 77: If both the 8-bit library has been built, this option causes the 8-bit library
! 78: to be used (which is the default); if the 8-bit library has not been built,
1.1.1.2 misho 79: this option causes an error.
80: .TP 10
1.1.1.4 ! misho 81: \fB-16\fP
! 82: If both the 8-bit or the 32-bit, and the 16-bit libraries have been built, this
! 83: option causes the 16-bit library to be used. If only the 16-bit library has been
! 84: built, this is the default (so has no effect). If only the 8-bit or the 32-bit
! 85: library has been built, this option causes an error.
! 86: .TP 10
! 87: \fB-32\fP
! 88: If both the 8-bit or the 16-bit, and the 32-bit libraries have been built, this
! 89: option causes the 32-bit library to be used. If only the 32-bit library has been
! 90: built, this is the default (so has no effect). If only the 8-bit or the 16-bit
! 91: library has been built, this option causes an error.
! 92: .TP 10
1.1 misho 93: \fB-b\fP
94: Behave as if each pattern has the \fB/B\fP (show byte code) modifier; the
95: internal form is output after compilation.
96: .TP 10
97: \fB-C\fP
98: Output the version number of the PCRE library, and all available information
1.1.1.4 ! misho 99: about the optional features that are included, and then exit with zero exit
! 100: code. All other options are ignored.
1.1.1.2 misho 101: .TP 10
102: \fB-C\fP \fIoption\fP
103: Output information about a specific build-time option, then exit. This
104: functionality is intended for use in scripts such as \fBRunTest\fP. The
1.1.1.4 ! misho 105: following options output the value and set the exit code as indicated:
1.1.1.2 misho 106: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 107: ebcdic-nl the code for LF (= NL) in an EBCDIC environment:
! 108: 0x15 or 0x25
! 109: 0 if used in an ASCII environment
! 110: exit code is always 0
! 111: linksize the configured internal link size (2, 3, or 4)
! 112: exit code is set to the link size
1.1.1.2 misho 113: newline the default newline setting:
114: CR, LF, CRLF, ANYCRLF, or ANY
1.1.1.4 ! misho 115: exit code is always 0
1.1.1.2 misho 116: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 117: The following options output 1 for true or 0 for false, and set the exit code
! 118: to the same value:
1.1.1.2 misho 119: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 120: ebcdic compiled for an EBCDIC environment
1.1.1.2 misho 121: jit just-in-time support is available
122: pcre16 the 16-bit library was built
1.1.1.4 ! misho 123: pcre32 the 32-bit library was built
1.1.1.2 misho 124: pcre8 the 8-bit library was built
125: ucp Unicode property support is available
1.1.1.4 ! misho 126: utf UTF-8 and/or UTF-16 and/or UTF-32 support
! 127: is available
! 128: .sp
! 129: If an unknown option is given, an error message is output; the exit code is 0.
1.1 misho 130: .TP 10
131: \fB-d\fP
132: Behave as if each pattern has the \fB/D\fP (debug) modifier; the internal
133: form and information about the compiled pattern is output after compilation;
134: \fB-d\fP is equivalent to \fB-b -i\fP.
135: .TP 10
136: \fB-dfa\fP
137: Behave as if each data line contains the \eD escape sequence; this causes the
1.1.1.4 ! misho 138: alternative matching function, \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP, to be used instead
! 139: of the standard \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP function (more detail is given below).
1.1 misho 140: .TP 10
141: \fB-help\fP
142: Output a brief summary these options and then exit.
143: .TP 10
144: \fB-i\fP
145: Behave as if each pattern has the \fB/I\fP modifier; information about the
146: compiled pattern is given after compilation.
147: .TP 10
148: \fB-M\fP
149: Behave as if each data line contains the \eM escape sequence; this causes
150: PCRE to discover the minimum MATCH_LIMIT and MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION settings by
1.1.1.4 ! misho 151: calling \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP repeatedly with different limits.
1.1 misho 152: .TP 10
153: \fB-m\fP
154: Output the size of each compiled pattern after it has been compiled. This is
1.1.1.2 misho 155: equivalent to adding \fB/M\fP to each regular expression. The size is given in
156: bytes for both libraries.
1.1 misho 157: .TP 10
158: \fB-o\fP \fIosize\fP
159: Set the number of elements in the output vector that is used when calling
1.1.1.4 ! misho 160: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP to be \fIosize\fP. The
1.1.1.2 misho 161: default value is 45, which is enough for 14 capturing subexpressions for
1.1.1.4 ! misho 162: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP or 22 different matches for
! 163: \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP.
1.1.1.2 misho 164: The vector size can be changed for individual matching calls by including \eO
165: in the data line (see below).
1.1 misho 166: .TP 10
167: \fB-p\fP
168: Behave as if each pattern has the \fB/P\fP modifier; the POSIX wrapper API is
169: used to call PCRE. None of the other options has any effect when \fB-p\fP is
1.1.1.2 misho 170: set. This option can be used only with the 8-bit library.
1.1 misho 171: .TP 10
172: \fB-q\fP
173: Do not output the version number of \fBpcretest\fP at the start of execution.
174: .TP 10
175: \fB-S\fP \fIsize\fP
176: On Unix-like systems, set the size of the run-time stack to \fIsize\fP
177: megabytes.
178: .TP 10
179: \fB-s\fP or \fB-s+\fP
180: Behave as if each pattern has the \fB/S\fP modifier; in other words, force each
1.1.1.3 misho 181: pattern to be studied. If \fB-s+\fP is used, all the JIT compile options are
1.1.1.4 ! misho 182: passed to \fBpcre[16|32]_study()\fP, causing just-in-time optimization to be set
1.1.1.3 misho 183: up if it is available, for both full and partial matching. Specific JIT compile
184: options can be selected by following \fB-s+\fP with a digit in the range 1 to
185: 7, which selects the JIT compile modes as follows:
186: .sp
187: 1 normal match only
188: 2 soft partial match only
189: 3 normal match and soft partial match
190: 4 hard partial match only
191: 6 soft and hard partial match
192: 7 all three modes (default)
193: .sp
194: If \fB-s++\fP is used instead of \fB-s+\fP (with or without a following digit),
195: the text "(JIT)" is added to the first output line after a match or no match
196: when JIT-compiled code was actually used.
1.1.1.4 ! misho 197: .sp
! 198: Note that there are pattern options that can override \fB-s\fP, either
! 199: specifying no studying at all, or suppressing JIT compilation.
! 200: .sp
1.1.1.3 misho 201: If the \fB/I\fP or \fB/D\fP option is present on a pattern (requesting output
202: about the compiled pattern), information about the result of studying is not
203: included when studying is caused only by \fB-s\fP and neither \fB-i\fP nor
204: \fB-d\fP is present on the command line. This behaviour means that the output
205: from tests that are run with and without \fB-s\fP should be identical, except
206: when options that output information about the actual running of a match are
207: set.
1.1.1.2 misho 208: .sp
209: The \fB-M\fP, \fB-t\fP, and \fB-tm\fP options, which give information about
210: resources used, are likely to produce different output with and without
211: \fB-s\fP. Output may also differ if the \fB/C\fP option is present on an
212: individual pattern. This uses callouts to trace the the matching process, and
213: this may be different between studied and non-studied patterns. If the pattern
214: contains (*MARK) items there may also be differences, for the same reason. The
215: \fB-s\fP command line option can be overridden for specific patterns that
216: should never be studied (see the \fB/S\fP pattern modifier below).
1.1 misho 217: .TP 10
218: \fB-t\fP
219: Run each compile, study, and match many times with a timer, and output
220: resulting time per compile or match (in milliseconds). Do not set \fB-m\fP with
221: \fB-t\fP, because you will then get the size output a zillion times, and the
222: timing will be distorted. You can control the number of iterations that are
223: used for timing by following \fB-t\fP with a number (as a separate item on the
224: command line). For example, "-t 1000" would iterate 1000 times. The default is
225: to iterate 500000 times.
226: .TP 10
227: \fB-tm\fP
228: This is like \fB-t\fP except that it times only the matching phase, not the
229: compile or study phases.
230: .
231: .
232: .SH DESCRIPTION
233: .rs
234: .sp
235: If \fBpcretest\fP is given two filename arguments, it reads from the first and
236: writes to the second. If it is given only one filename argument, it reads from
237: that file and writes to stdout. Otherwise, it reads from stdin and writes to
238: stdout, and prompts for each line of input, using "re>" to prompt for regular
239: expressions, and "data>" to prompt for data lines.
240: .P
241: When \fBpcretest\fP is built, a configuration option can specify that it should
242: be linked with the \fBlibreadline\fP library. When this is done, if the input
243: is from a terminal, it is read using the \fBreadline()\fP function. This
244: provides line-editing and history facilities. The output from the \fB-help\fP
245: option states whether or not \fBreadline()\fP will be used.
246: .P
247: The program handles any number of sets of input on a single input file. Each
248: set starts with a regular expression, and continues with any number of data
249: lines to be matched against the pattern.
250: .P
251: Each data line is matched separately and independently. If you want to do
252: multi-line matches, you have to use the \en escape sequence (or \er or \er\en,
253: etc., depending on the newline setting) in a single line of input to encode the
254: newline sequences. There is no limit on the length of data lines; the input
255: buffer is automatically extended if it is too small.
256: .P
257: An empty line signals the end of the data lines, at which point a new regular
258: expression is read. The regular expressions are given enclosed in any
259: non-alphanumeric delimiters other than backslash, for example:
260: .sp
261: /(a|bc)x+yz/
262: .sp
263: White space before the initial delimiter is ignored. A regular expression may
264: be continued over several input lines, in which case the newline characters are
265: included within it. It is possible to include the delimiter within the pattern
266: by escaping it, for example
267: .sp
268: /abc\e/def/
269: .sp
270: If you do so, the escape and the delimiter form part of the pattern, but since
271: delimiters are always non-alphanumeric, this does not affect its interpretation.
272: If the terminating delimiter is immediately followed by a backslash, for
273: example,
274: .sp
275: /abc/\e
276: .sp
277: then a backslash is added to the end of the pattern. This is done to provide a
278: way of testing the error condition that arises if a pattern finishes with a
279: backslash, because
280: .sp
281: /abc\e/
282: .sp
283: is interpreted as the first line of a pattern that starts with "abc/", causing
284: pcretest to read the next line as a continuation of the regular expression.
285: .
286: .
287: .SH "PATTERN MODIFIERS"
288: .rs
289: .sp
290: A pattern may be followed by any number of modifiers, which are mostly single
1.1.1.4 ! misho 291: characters, though some of these can be qualified by further characters.
! 292: Following Perl usage, these are referred to below as, for example, "the
! 293: \fB/i\fP modifier", even though the delimiter of the pattern need not always be
! 294: a slash, and no slash is used when writing modifiers. White space may appear
! 295: between the final pattern delimiter and the first modifier, and between the
! 296: modifiers themselves. For reference, here is a complete list of modifiers. They
! 297: fall into several groups that are described in detail in the following
! 298: sections.
! 299: .sp
! 300: \fB/8\fP set UTF mode
! 301: \fB/9\fP set PCRE_NEVER_UTF (locks out UTF mode)
! 302: \fB/?\fP disable UTF validity check
! 303: \fB/+\fP show remainder of subject after match
! 304: \fB/=\fP show all captures (not just those that are set)
! 305: .sp
! 306: \fB/A\fP set PCRE_ANCHORED
! 307: \fB/B\fP show compiled code
! 308: \fB/C\fP set PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT
! 309: \fB/D\fP same as \fB/B\fP plus \fB/I\fP
! 310: \fB/E\fP set PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY
! 311: \fB/F\fP flip byte order in compiled pattern
! 312: \fB/f\fP set PCRE_FIRSTLINE
! 313: \fB/G\fP find all matches (shorten string)
! 314: \fB/g\fP find all matches (use startoffset)
! 315: \fB/I\fP show information about pattern
! 316: \fB/i\fP set PCRE_CASELESS
! 317: \fB/J\fP set PCRE_DUPNAMES
! 318: \fB/K\fP show backtracking control names
! 319: \fB/L\fP set locale
! 320: \fB/M\fP show compiled memory size
! 321: \fB/m\fP set PCRE_MULTILINE
! 322: \fB/N\fP set PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE
! 323: \fB/P\fP use the POSIX wrapper
! 324: \fB/S\fP study the pattern after compilation
! 325: \fB/s\fP set PCRE_DOTALL
! 326: \fB/T\fP select character tables
! 327: \fB/U\fP set PCRE_UNGREEDY
! 328: \fB/W\fP set PCRE_UCP
! 329: \fB/X\fP set PCRE_EXTRA
! 330: \fB/x\fP set PCRE_EXTENDED
! 331: \fB/Y\fP set PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
! 332: \fB/Z\fP don't show lengths in \fB/B\fP output
! 333: .sp
! 334: \fB/<any>\fP set PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY
! 335: \fB/<anycrlf>\fP set PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF
! 336: \fB/<cr>\fP set PCRE_NEWLINE_CR
! 337: \fB/<crlf>\fP set PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF
! 338: \fB/<lf>\fP set PCRE_NEWLINE_LF
! 339: \fB/<bsr_anycrlf>\fP set PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF
! 340: \fB/<bsr_unicode>\fP set PCRE_BSR_UNICODE
! 341: \fB/<JS>\fP set PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT
! 342: .sp
! 343: .
! 344: .
! 345: .SS "Perl-compatible modifiers"
! 346: .rs
! 347: .sp
1.1 misho 348: The \fB/i\fP, \fB/m\fP, \fB/s\fP, and \fB/x\fP modifiers set the PCRE_CASELESS,
349: PCRE_MULTILINE, PCRE_DOTALL, or PCRE_EXTENDED options, respectively, when
1.1.1.4 ! misho 350: \fBpcre[16|32]_compile()\fP is called. These four modifier letters have the same
1.1 misho 351: effect as they do in Perl. For example:
352: .sp
353: /caseless/i
354: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 355: .
! 356: .
! 357: .SS "Modifiers for other PCRE options"
! 358: .rs
! 359: .sp
1.1 misho 360: The following table shows additional modifiers for setting PCRE compile-time
361: options that do not correspond to anything in Perl:
362: .sp
1.1.1.2 misho 363: \fB/8\fP PCRE_UTF8 ) when using the 8-bit
364: \fB/?\fP PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK ) library
365: .sp
366: \fB/8\fP PCRE_UTF16 ) when using the 16-bit
367: \fB/?\fP PCRE_NO_UTF16_CHECK ) library
368: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 369: \fB/8\fP PCRE_UTF32 ) when using the 32-bit
! 370: \fB/?\fP PCRE_NO_UTF32_CHECK ) library
! 371: .sp
! 372: \fB/9\fP PCRE_NEVER_UTF
1.1 misho 373: \fB/A\fP PCRE_ANCHORED
374: \fB/C\fP PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT
375: \fB/E\fP PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY
376: \fB/f\fP PCRE_FIRSTLINE
377: \fB/J\fP PCRE_DUPNAMES
378: \fB/N\fP PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE
379: \fB/U\fP PCRE_UNGREEDY
380: \fB/W\fP PCRE_UCP
381: \fB/X\fP PCRE_EXTRA
382: \fB/Y\fP PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
1.1.1.4 ! misho 383: \fB/<any>\fP PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY
! 384: \fB/<anycrlf>\fP PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF
1.1 misho 385: \fB/<cr>\fP PCRE_NEWLINE_CR
386: \fB/<crlf>\fP PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF
1.1.1.4 ! misho 387: \fB/<lf>\fP PCRE_NEWLINE_LF
1.1 misho 388: \fB/<bsr_anycrlf>\fP PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF
389: \fB/<bsr_unicode>\fP PCRE_BSR_UNICODE
1.1.1.4 ! misho 390: \fB/<JS>\fP PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT
1.1 misho 391: .sp
392: The modifiers that are enclosed in angle brackets are literal strings as shown,
393: including the angle brackets, but the letters within can be in either case.
394: This example sets multiline matching with CRLF as the line ending sequence:
395: .sp
396: /^abc/m<CRLF>
397: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 398: As well as turning on the PCRE_UTF8/16/32 option, the \fB/8\fP modifier causes
1.1.1.2 misho 399: all non-printing characters in output strings to be printed using the
400: \ex{hh...} notation. Otherwise, those less than 0x100 are output in hex without
401: the curly brackets.
402: .P
403: Full details of the PCRE options are given in the
1.1 misho 404: .\" HREF
405: \fBpcreapi\fP
406: .\"
407: documentation.
408: .
409: .
410: .SS "Finding all matches in a string"
411: .rs
412: .sp
413: Searching for all possible matches within each subject string can be requested
414: by the \fB/g\fP or \fB/G\fP modifier. After finding a match, PCRE is called
415: again to search the remainder of the subject string. The difference between
416: \fB/g\fP and \fB/G\fP is that the former uses the \fIstartoffset\fP argument to
1.1.1.4 ! misho 417: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP to start searching at a new point within the entire
1.1.1.2 misho 418: string (which is in effect what Perl does), whereas the latter passes over a
419: shortened substring. This makes a difference to the matching process if the
420: pattern begins with a lookbehind assertion (including \eb or \eB).
1.1 misho 421: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 422: If any call to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP in a \fB/g\fP or \fB/G\fP sequence matches
1.1.1.2 misho 423: an empty string, the next call is done with the PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and
1.1 misho 424: PCRE_ANCHORED flags set in order to search for another, non-empty, match at the
425: same point. If this second match fails, the start offset is advanced, and the
426: normal match is retried. This imitates the way Perl handles such cases when
427: using the \fB/g\fP modifier or the \fBsplit()\fP function. Normally, the start
428: offset is advanced by one character, but if the newline convention recognizes
429: CRLF as a newline, and the current character is CR followed by LF, an advance
430: of two is used.
431: .
432: .
433: .SS "Other modifiers"
434: .rs
435: .sp
436: There are yet more modifiers for controlling the way \fBpcretest\fP
437: operates.
438: .P
439: The \fB/+\fP modifier requests that as well as outputting the substring that
440: matched the entire pattern, \fBpcretest\fP should in addition output the
441: remainder of the subject string. This is useful for tests where the subject
442: contains multiple copies of the same substring. If the \fB+\fP modifier appears
443: twice, the same action is taken for captured substrings. In each case the
444: remainder is output on the following line with a plus character following the
445: capture number. Note that this modifier must not immediately follow the /S
1.1.1.3 misho 446: modifier because /S+ and /S++ have other meanings.
1.1 misho 447: .P
448: The \fB/=\fP modifier requests that the values of all potential captured
1.1.1.2 misho 449: parentheses be output after a match. By default, only those up to the highest
450: one actually used in the match are output (corresponding to the return code
1.1.1.4 ! misho 451: from \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP). Values in the offsets vector corresponding to
1.1.1.2 misho 452: higher numbers should be set to -1, and these are output as "<unset>". This
453: modifier gives a way of checking that this is happening.
1.1 misho 454: .P
455: The \fB/B\fP modifier is a debugging feature. It requests that \fBpcretest\fP
1.1.1.2 misho 456: output a representation of the compiled code after compilation. Normally this
457: information contains length and offset values; however, if \fB/Z\fP is also
458: present, this data is replaced by spaces. This is a special feature for use in
459: the automatic test scripts; it ensures that the same output is generated for
460: different internal link sizes.
1.1 misho 461: .P
462: The \fB/D\fP modifier is a PCRE debugging feature, and is equivalent to
463: \fB/BI\fP, that is, both the \fB/B\fP and the \fB/I\fP modifiers.
464: .P
465: The \fB/F\fP modifier causes \fBpcretest\fP to flip the byte order of the
1.1.1.2 misho 466: 2-byte and 4-byte fields in the compiled pattern. This facility is for testing
467: the feature in PCRE that allows it to execute patterns that were compiled on a
468: host with a different endianness. This feature is not available when the POSIX
469: interface to PCRE is being used, that is, when the \fB/P\fP pattern modifier is
470: specified. See also the section about saving and reloading compiled patterns
471: below.
1.1 misho 472: .P
473: The \fB/I\fP modifier requests that \fBpcretest\fP output information about the
474: compiled pattern (whether it is anchored, has a fixed first character, and
1.1.1.4 ! misho 475: so on). It does this by calling \fBpcre[16|32]_fullinfo()\fP after compiling a
1.1 misho 476: pattern. If the pattern is studied, the results of that are also output.
477: .P
478: The \fB/K\fP modifier requests \fBpcretest\fP to show names from backtracking
1.1.1.4 ! misho 479: control verbs that are returned from calls to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP. It causes
! 480: \fBpcretest\fP to create a \fBpcre[16|32]_extra\fP block if one has not already
! 481: been created by a call to \fBpcre[16|32]_study()\fP, and to set the
1.1.1.2 misho 482: PCRE_EXTRA_MARK flag and the \fBmark\fP field within it, every time that
1.1.1.4 ! misho 483: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP is called. If the variable that the \fBmark\fP field
1.1.1.2 misho 484: points to is non-NULL for a match, non-match, or partial match, \fBpcretest\fP
485: prints the string to which it points. For a match, this is shown on a line by
486: itself, tagged with "MK:". For a non-match it is added to the message.
1.1 misho 487: .P
488: The \fB/L\fP modifier must be followed directly by the name of a locale, for
489: example,
490: .sp
491: /pattern/Lfr_FR
492: .sp
493: For this reason, it must be the last modifier. The given locale is set,
1.1.1.4 ! misho 494: \fBpcre[16|32]_maketables()\fP is called to build a set of character tables for
! 495: the locale, and this is then passed to \fBpcre[16|32]_compile()\fP when compiling
1.1.1.2 misho 496: the regular expression. Without an \fB/L\fP (or \fB/T\fP) modifier, NULL is
497: passed as the tables pointer; that is, \fB/L\fP applies only to the expression
498: on which it appears.
499: .P
500: The \fB/M\fP modifier causes the size in bytes of the memory block used to hold
501: the compiled pattern to be output. This does not include the size of the
1.1.1.4 ! misho 502: \fBpcre[16|32]\fP block; it is just the actual compiled data. If the pattern is
1.1.1.2 misho 503: successfully studied with the PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE option, the size of the
504: JIT compiled code is also output.
1.1 misho 505: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 506: The \fB/S\fP modifier causes \fBpcre[16|32]_study()\fP to be called after the
! 507: expression has been compiled, and the results used when the expression is
! 508: matched. There are a number of qualifying characters that may follow \fB/S\fP.
! 509: They may appear in any order.
! 510: .P
! 511: If \fBS\fP is followed by an exclamation mark, \fBpcre[16|32]_study()\fP is called
! 512: with the PCRE_STUDY_EXTRA_NEEDED option, causing it always to return a
! 513: \fBpcre_extra\fP block, even when studying discovers no useful information.
! 514: .P
! 515: If \fB/S\fP is followed by a second S character, it suppresses studying, even
1.1 misho 516: if it was requested externally by the \fB-s\fP command line option. This makes
517: it possible to specify that certain patterns are always studied, and others are
518: never studied, independently of \fB-s\fP. This feature is used in the test
519: files in a few cases where the output is different when the pattern is studied.
520: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 521: If the \fB/S\fP modifier is followed by a + character, the call to
! 522: \fBpcre[16|32]_study()\fP is made with all the JIT study options, requesting
1.1.1.3 misho 523: just-in-time optimization support if it is available, for both normal and
524: partial matching. If you want to restrict the JIT compiling modes, you can
525: follow \fB/S+\fP with a digit in the range 1 to 7:
526: .sp
527: 1 normal match only
528: 2 soft partial match only
529: 3 normal match and soft partial match
530: 4 hard partial match only
531: 6 soft and hard partial match
532: 7 all three modes (default)
533: .sp
534: If \fB/S++\fP is used instead of \fB/S+\fP (with or without a following digit),
535: the text "(JIT)" is added to the first output line after a match or no match
536: when JIT-compiled code was actually used.
537: .P
538: Note that there is also an independent \fB/+\fP modifier; it must not be given
539: immediately after \fB/S\fP or \fB/S+\fP because this will be misinterpreted.
540: .P
541: If JIT studying is successful, the compiled JIT code will automatically be used
1.1.1.4 ! misho 542: when \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP is run, except when incompatible run-time options
1.1.1.3 misho 543: are specified. For more details, see the
1.1 misho 544: .\" HREF
545: \fBpcrejit\fP
546: .\"
547: documentation. See also the \fB\eJ\fP escape sequence below for a way of
548: setting the size of the JIT stack.
549: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 550: Finally, if \fB/S\fP is followed by a minus character, JIT compilation is
! 551: suppressed, even if it was requested externally by the \fB-s\fP command line
! 552: option. This makes it possible to specify that JIT is never to be used for
! 553: certain patterns.
! 554: .P
1.1 misho 555: The \fB/T\fP modifier must be followed by a single digit. It causes a specific
1.1.1.4 ! misho 556: set of built-in character tables to be passed to \fBpcre[16|32]_compile()\fP. It
1.1.1.2 misho 557: is used in the standard PCRE tests to check behaviour with different character
1.1 misho 558: tables. The digit specifies the tables as follows:
559: .sp
560: 0 the default ASCII tables, as distributed in
561: pcre_chartables.c.dist
562: 1 a set of tables defining ISO 8859 characters
563: .sp
564: In table 1, some characters whose codes are greater than 128 are identified as
565: letters, digits, spaces, etc.
566: .
567: .
568: .SS "Using the POSIX wrapper API"
569: .rs
570: .sp
571: The \fB/P\fP modifier causes \fBpcretest\fP to call PCRE via the POSIX wrapper
1.1.1.2 misho 572: API rather than its native API. This supports only the 8-bit library. When
573: \fB/P\fP is set, the following modifiers set options for the \fBregcomp()\fP
574: function:
1.1 misho 575: .sp
576: /i REG_ICASE
577: /m REG_NEWLINE
578: /N REG_NOSUB
579: /s REG_DOTALL )
580: /U REG_UNGREEDY ) These options are not part of
581: /W REG_UCP ) the POSIX standard
582: /8 REG_UTF8 )
583: .sp
584: The \fB/+\fP modifier works as described above. All other modifiers are
585: ignored.
586: .
587: .
588: .SH "DATA LINES"
589: .rs
590: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 591: Before each data line is passed to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP, leading and trailing
1.1 misho 592: white space is removed, and it is then scanned for \e escapes. Some of these
593: are pretty esoteric features, intended for checking out some of the more
594: complicated features of PCRE. If you are just testing "ordinary" regular
595: expressions, you probably don't need any of these. The following escapes are
596: recognized:
597: .sp
598: \ea alarm (BEL, \ex07)
599: \eb backspace (\ex08)
600: \ee escape (\ex27)
601: \ef form feed (\ex0c)
602: \en newline (\ex0a)
603: .\" JOIN
604: \eqdd set the PCRE_MATCH_LIMIT limit to dd
605: (any number of digits)
606: \er carriage return (\ex0d)
607: \et tab (\ex09)
608: \ev vertical tab (\ex0b)
1.1.1.2 misho 609: \ennn octal character (up to 3 octal digits); always
1.1.1.4 ! misho 610: a byte unless > 255 in UTF-8 or 16-bit or 32-bit mode
1.1 misho 611: \exhh hexadecimal byte (up to 2 hex digits)
1.1.1.2 misho 612: \ex{hh...} hexadecimal character (any number of hex digits)
1.1 misho 613: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 614: \eA pass the PCRE_ANCHORED option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 615: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 616: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 617: \eB pass the PCRE_NOTBOL option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 618: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 619: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 620: \eCdd call pcre[16|32]_copy_substring() for substring dd
1.1 misho 621: after a successful match (number less than 32)
622: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 623: \eCname call pcre[16|32]_copy_named_substring() for substring
1.1 misho 624: "name" after a successful match (name termin-
625: ated by next non alphanumeric character)
626: .\" JOIN
627: \eC+ show the current captured substrings at callout
628: time
629: \eC- do not supply a callout function
630: .\" JOIN
631: \eC!n return 1 instead of 0 when callout number n is
632: reached
633: .\" JOIN
634: \eC!n!m return 1 instead of 0 when callout number n is
635: reached for the nth time
636: .\" JOIN
637: \eC*n pass the number n (may be negative) as callout
638: data; this is used as the callout return value
1.1.1.4 ! misho 639: \eD use the \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP match function
! 640: \eF only shortest match for \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 641: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 642: \eGdd call pcre[16|32]_get_substring() for substring dd
1.1 misho 643: after a successful match (number less than 32)
644: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 645: \eGname call pcre[16|32]_get_named_substring() for substring
1.1 misho 646: "name" after a successful match (name termin-
647: ated by next non-alphanumeric character)
648: .\" JOIN
649: \eJdd set up a JIT stack of dd kilobytes maximum (any
650: number of digits)
651: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 652: \eL call pcre[16|32]_get_substringlist() after a
1.1 misho 653: successful match
654: .\" JOIN
655: \eM discover the minimum MATCH_LIMIT and
656: MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION settings
657: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 658: \eN pass the PCRE_NOTEMPTY option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 659: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP; if used twice, pass the
1.1 misho 660: PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART option
661: .\" JOIN
662: \eOdd set the size of the output vector passed to
1.1.1.4 ! misho 663: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP to dd (any number of digits)
1.1 misho 664: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 665: \eP pass the PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 666: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP; if used twice, pass the
1.1 misho 667: PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD option
668: .\" JOIN
669: \eQdd set the PCRE_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION limit to dd
670: (any number of digits)
1.1.1.4 ! misho 671: \eR pass the PCRE_DFA_RESTART option to \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 672: \eS output details of memory get/free calls during matching
673: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 674: \eY pass the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 675: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 676: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 677: \eZ pass the PCRE_NOTEOL option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 678: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 679: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 680: \e? pass the PCRE_NO_UTF[8|16|32]_CHECK option to
! 681: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 682: .\" JOIN
683: \e>dd start the match at offset dd (optional "-"; then
684: any number of digits); this sets the \fIstartoffset\fP
1.1.1.4 ! misho 685: argument for \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 686: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 687: \e<cr> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_CR option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 688: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 689: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 690: \e<lf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_LF option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 691: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 692: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 693: \e<crlf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 694: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 695: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 696: \e<anycrlf> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 697: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 698: .\" JOIN
1.1.1.4 ! misho 699: \e<any> pass the PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY option to \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP
! 700: or \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP
1.1 misho 701: .sp
1.1.1.2 misho 702: The use of \ex{hh...} is not dependent on the use of the \fB/8\fP modifier on
703: the pattern. It is recognized always. There may be any number of hexadecimal
704: digits inside the braces; invalid values provoke error messages.
705: .P
706: Note that \exhh specifies one byte rather than one character in UTF-8 mode;
707: this makes it possible to construct invalid UTF-8 sequences for testing
708: purposes. On the other hand, \ex{hh} is interpreted as a UTF-8 character in
709: UTF-8 mode, generating more than one byte if the value is greater than 127.
710: When testing the 8-bit library not in UTF-8 mode, \ex{hh} generates one byte
711: for values less than 256, and causes an error for greater values.
712: .P
713: In UTF-16 mode, all 4-digit \ex{hhhh} values are accepted. This makes it
714: possible to construct invalid UTF-16 sequences for testing purposes.
1.1 misho 715: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 716: In UTF-32 mode, all 4- to 8-digit \ex{...} values are accepted. This makes it
! 717: possible to construct invalid UTF-32 sequences for testing purposes.
! 718: .P
1.1 misho 719: The escapes that specify line ending sequences are literal strings, exactly as
720: shown. No more than one newline setting should be present in any data line.
721: .P
722: A backslash followed by anything else just escapes the anything else. If
723: the very last character is a backslash, it is ignored. This gives a way of
724: passing an empty line as data, since a real empty line terminates the data
725: input.
726: .P
727: The \fB\eJ\fP escape provides a way of setting the maximum stack size that is
728: used by the just-in-time optimization code. It is ignored if JIT optimization
729: is not being used. Providing a stack that is larger than the default 32K is
730: necessary only for very complicated patterns.
731: .P
1.1.1.4 ! misho 732: If \eM is present, \fBpcretest\fP calls \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP several times,
1.1.1.2 misho 733: with different values in the \fImatch_limit\fP and \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP
1.1.1.4 ! misho 734: fields of the \fBpcre[16|32]_extra\fP data structure, until it finds the minimum
! 735: numbers for each parameter that allow \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP to complete without
1.1 misho 736: error. Because this is testing a specific feature of the normal interpretive
1.1.1.4 ! misho 737: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP execution, the use of any JIT optimization that might
1.1.1.2 misho 738: have been set up by the \fB/S+\fP qualifier of \fB-s+\fP option is disabled.
1.1 misho 739: .P
740: The \fImatch_limit\fP number is a measure of the amount of backtracking
741: that takes place, and checking it out can be instructive. For most simple
742: matches, the number is quite small, but for patterns with very large numbers of
743: matching possibilities, it can become large very quickly with increasing length
744: of subject string. The \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP number is a measure of how
745: much stack (or, if PCRE is compiled with NO_RECURSE, how much heap) memory is
746: needed to complete the match attempt.
747: .P
748: When \eO is used, the value specified may be higher or lower than the size set
749: by the \fB-O\fP command line option (or defaulted to 45); \eO applies only to
1.1.1.4 ! misho 750: the call of \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP for the line in which it appears.
1.1 misho 751: .P
752: If the \fB/P\fP modifier was present on the pattern, causing the POSIX wrapper
753: API to be used, the only option-setting sequences that have any effect are \eB,
754: \eN, and \eZ, causing REG_NOTBOL, REG_NOTEMPTY, and REG_NOTEOL, respectively,
755: to be passed to \fBregexec()\fP.
756: .
757: .
758: .SH "THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION"
759: .rs
760: .sp
761: By default, \fBpcretest\fP uses the standard PCRE matching function,
1.1.1.4 ! misho 762: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP to match each data line. PCRE also supports an
! 763: alternative matching function, \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_test()\fP, which operates in a
1.1 misho 764: different way, and has some restrictions. The differences between the two
765: functions are described in the
766: .\" HREF
767: \fBpcrematching\fP
768: .\"
769: documentation.
770: .P
771: If a data line contains the \eD escape sequence, or if the command line
1.1.1.2 misho 772: contains the \fB-dfa\fP option, the alternative matching function is used.
1.1 misho 773: This function finds all possible matches at a given point. If, however, the \eF
774: escape sequence is present in the data line, it stops after the first match is
775: found. This is always the shortest possible match.
776: .
777: .
778: .SH "DEFAULT OUTPUT FROM PCRETEST"
779: .rs
780: .sp
781: This section describes the output when the normal matching function,
1.1.1.4 ! misho 782: \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP, is being used.
1.1 misho 783: .P
784: When a match succeeds, \fBpcretest\fP outputs the list of captured substrings
1.1.1.4 ! misho 785: that \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP returns, starting with number 0 for the string that
1.1 misho 786: matched the whole pattern. Otherwise, it outputs "No match" when the return is
787: PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH, and "Partial match:" followed by the partially matching
1.1.1.4 ! misho 788: substring when \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP returns PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL. (Note that
1.1.1.2 misho 789: this is the entire substring that was inspected during the partial match; it
790: may include characters before the actual match start if a lookbehind assertion,
1.1 misho 791: \eK, \eb, or \eB was involved.) For any other return, \fBpcretest\fP outputs
792: the PCRE negative error number and a short descriptive phrase. If the error is
1.1.1.2 misho 793: a failed UTF string check, the offset of the start of the failing character and
794: the reason code are also output, provided that the size of the output vector is
795: at least two. Here is an example of an interactive \fBpcretest\fP run.
1.1 misho 796: .sp
797: $ pcretest
798: PCRE version 8.13 2011-04-30
799: .sp
800: re> /^abc(\ed+)/
801: data> abc123
802: 0: abc123
803: 1: 123
804: data> xyz
805: No match
806: .sp
807: Unset capturing substrings that are not followed by one that is set are not
1.1.1.4 ! misho 808: returned by \fBpcre[16|32]_exec()\fP, and are not shown by \fBpcretest\fP. In the
1.1 misho 809: following example, there are two capturing substrings, but when the first data
810: line is matched, the second, unset substring is not shown. An "internal" unset
811: substring is shown as "<unset>", as for the second data line.
812: .sp
813: re> /(a)|(b)/
814: data> a
815: 0: a
816: 1: a
817: data> b
818: 0: b
819: 1: <unset>
820: 2: b
821: .sp
1.1.1.2 misho 822: If the strings contain any non-printing characters, they are output as \exhh
823: escapes if the value is less than 256 and UTF mode is not set. Otherwise they
824: are output as \ex{hh...} escapes. See below for the definition of non-printing
825: characters. If the pattern has the \fB/+\fP modifier, the output for substring
826: 0 is followed by the the rest of the subject string, identified by "0+" like
827: this:
1.1 misho 828: .sp
829: re> /cat/+
830: data> cataract
831: 0: cat
832: 0+ aract
833: .sp
834: If the pattern has the \fB/g\fP or \fB/G\fP modifier, the results of successive
835: matching attempts are output in sequence, like this:
836: .sp
837: re> /\eBi(\ew\ew)/g
838: data> Mississippi
839: 0: iss
840: 1: ss
841: 0: iss
842: 1: ss
843: 0: ipp
844: 1: pp
845: .sp
846: "No match" is output only if the first match attempt fails. Here is an example
847: of a failure message (the offset 4 that is specified by \e>4 is past the end of
848: the subject string):
849: .sp
850: re> /xyz/
851: data> xyz\e>4
852: Error -24 (bad offset value)
853: .P
854: If any of the sequences \fB\eC\fP, \fB\eG\fP, or \fB\eL\fP are present in a
855: data line that is successfully matched, the substrings extracted by the
856: convenience functions are output with C, G, or L after the string number
857: instead of a colon. This is in addition to the normal full list. The string
858: length (that is, the return from the extraction function) is given in
859: parentheses after each string for \fB\eC\fP and \fB\eG\fP.
860: .P
861: Note that whereas patterns can be continued over several lines (a plain ">"
862: prompt is used for continuations), data lines may not. However newlines can be
863: included in data by means of the \en escape (or \er, \er\en, etc., depending on
864: the newline sequence setting).
865: .
866: .
867: .
868: .SH "OUTPUT FROM THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION"
869: .rs
870: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 871: When the alternative matching function, \fBpcre[16|32]_dfa_exec()\fP, is used (by
1.1 misho 872: means of the \eD escape sequence or the \fB-dfa\fP command line option), the
873: output consists of a list of all the matches that start at the first point in
874: the subject where there is at least one match. For example:
875: .sp
876: re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/
877: data> yellow tangerine\eD
878: 0: tangerine
879: 1: tang
880: 2: tan
881: .sp
882: (Using the normal matching function on this data finds only "tang".) The
883: longest matching string is always given first (and numbered zero). After a
884: PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL return, the output is "Partial match:", followed by the
885: partially matching substring. (Note that this is the entire substring that was
886: inspected during the partial match; it may include characters before the actual
887: match start if a lookbehind assertion, \eK, \eb, or \eB was involved.)
888: .P
889: If \fB/g\fP is present on the pattern, the search for further matches resumes
890: at the end of the longest match. For example:
891: .sp
892: re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/g
893: data> yellow tangerine and tangy sultana\eD
894: 0: tangerine
895: 1: tang
896: 2: tan
897: 0: tang
898: 1: tan
899: 0: tan
900: .sp
901: Since the matching function does not support substring capture, the escape
902: sequences that are concerned with captured substrings are not relevant.
903: .
904: .
905: .SH "RESTARTING AFTER A PARTIAL MATCH"
906: .rs
907: .sp
908: When the alternative matching function has given the PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL return,
909: indicating that the subject partially matched the pattern, you can restart the
910: match with additional subject data by means of the \eR escape sequence. For
911: example:
912: .sp
913: re> /^\ed?\ed(jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)\ed\ed$/
914: data> 23ja\eP\eD
915: Partial match: 23ja
916: data> n05\eR\eD
917: 0: n05
918: .sp
919: For further information about partial matching, see the
920: .\" HREF
921: \fBpcrepartial\fP
922: .\"
923: documentation.
924: .
925: .
926: .SH CALLOUTS
927: .rs
928: .sp
929: If the pattern contains any callout requests, \fBpcretest\fP's callout function
930: is called during matching. This works with both matching functions. By default,
931: the called function displays the callout number, the start and current
932: positions in the text at the callout time, and the next pattern item to be
1.1.1.2 misho 933: tested. For example:
1.1 misho 934: .sp
935: --->pqrabcdef
936: 0 ^ ^ \ed
937: .sp
1.1.1.2 misho 938: This output indicates that callout number 0 occurred for a match attempt
939: starting at the fourth character of the subject string, when the pointer was at
940: the seventh character of the data, and when the next pattern item was \ed. Just
941: one circumflex is output if the start and current positions are the same.
1.1 misho 942: .P
943: Callouts numbered 255 are assumed to be automatic callouts, inserted as a
944: result of the \fB/C\fP pattern modifier. In this case, instead of showing the
945: callout number, the offset in the pattern, preceded by a plus, is output. For
946: example:
947: .sp
948: re> /\ed?[A-E]\e*/C
949: data> E*
950: --->E*
951: +0 ^ \ed?
952: +3 ^ [A-E]
953: +8 ^^ \e*
954: +10 ^ ^
955: 0: E*
956: .sp
957: If a pattern contains (*MARK) items, an additional line is output whenever
958: a change of latest mark is passed to the callout function. For example:
959: .sp
960: re> /a(*MARK:X)bc/C
961: data> abc
962: --->abc
963: +0 ^ a
964: +1 ^^ (*MARK:X)
965: +10 ^^ b
966: Latest Mark: X
967: +11 ^ ^ c
968: +12 ^ ^
969: 0: abc
970: .sp
971: The mark changes between matching "a" and "b", but stays the same for the rest
972: of the match, so nothing more is output. If, as a result of backtracking, the
973: mark reverts to being unset, the text "<unset>" is output.
974: .P
975: The callout function in \fBpcretest\fP returns zero (carry on matching) by
976: default, but you can use a \eC item in a data line (as described above) to
977: change this and other parameters of the callout.
978: .P
979: Inserting callouts can be helpful when using \fBpcretest\fP to check
980: complicated regular expressions. For further information about callouts, see
981: the
982: .\" HREF
983: \fBpcrecallout\fP
984: .\"
985: documentation.
986: .
987: .
988: .
989: .SH "NON-PRINTING CHARACTERS"
990: .rs
991: .sp
992: When \fBpcretest\fP is outputting text in the compiled version of a pattern,
993: bytes other than 32-126 are always treated as non-printing characters are are
994: therefore shown as hex escapes.
995: .P
996: When \fBpcretest\fP is outputting text that is a matched part of a subject
997: string, it behaves in the same way, unless a different locale has been set for
998: the pattern (using the \fB/L\fP modifier). In this case, the \fBisprint()\fP
999: function to distinguish printing and non-printing characters.
1000: .
1001: .
1002: .
1003: .SH "SAVING AND RELOADING COMPILED PATTERNS"
1004: .rs
1005: .sp
1006: The facilities described in this section are not available when the POSIX
1007: interface to PCRE is being used, that is, when the \fB/P\fP pattern modifier is
1008: specified.
1009: .P
1010: When the POSIX interface is not in use, you can cause \fBpcretest\fP to write a
1011: compiled pattern to a file, by following the modifiers with > and a file name.
1012: For example:
1013: .sp
1014: /pattern/im >/some/file
1015: .sp
1016: See the
1017: .\" HREF
1018: \fBpcreprecompile\fP
1019: .\"
1020: documentation for a discussion about saving and re-using compiled patterns.
1021: Note that if the pattern was successfully studied with JIT optimization, the
1022: JIT data cannot be saved.
1023: .P
1024: The data that is written is binary. The first eight bytes are the length of the
1025: compiled pattern data followed by the length of the optional study data, each
1026: written as four bytes in big-endian order (most significant byte first). If
1027: there is no study data (either the pattern was not studied, or studying did not
1028: return any data), the second length is zero. The lengths are followed by an
1029: exact copy of the compiled pattern. If there is additional study data, this
1030: (excluding any JIT data) follows immediately after the compiled pattern. After
1031: writing the file, \fBpcretest\fP expects to read a new pattern.
1032: .P
1033: A saved pattern can be reloaded into \fBpcretest\fP by specifying < and a file
1034: name instead of a pattern. The name of the file must not contain a < character,
1035: as otherwise \fBpcretest\fP will interpret the line as a pattern delimited by <
1036: characters.
1037: For example:
1038: .sp
1039: re> </some/file
1040: Compiled pattern loaded from /some/file
1041: No study data
1042: .sp
1043: If the pattern was previously studied with the JIT optimization, the JIT
1044: information cannot be saved and restored, and so is lost. When the pattern has
1045: been loaded, \fBpcretest\fP proceeds to read data lines in the usual way.
1046: .P
1047: You can copy a file written by \fBpcretest\fP to a different host and reload it
1048: there, even if the new host has opposite endianness to the one on which the
1049: pattern was compiled. For example, you can compile on an i86 machine and run on
1.1.1.2 misho 1050: a SPARC machine. When a pattern is reloaded on a host with different
1051: endianness, the confirmation message is changed to:
1052: .sp
1053: Compiled pattern (byte-inverted) loaded from /some/file
1054: .sp
1055: The test suite contains some saved pre-compiled patterns with different
1056: endianness. These are reloaded using "<!" instead of just "<". This suppresses
1057: the "(byte-inverted)" text so that the output is the same on all hosts. It also
1058: forces debugging output once the pattern has been reloaded.
1.1 misho 1059: .P
1060: File names for saving and reloading can be absolute or relative, but note that
1061: the shell facility of expanding a file name that starts with a tilde (~) is not
1062: available.
1063: .P
1064: The ability to save and reload files in \fBpcretest\fP is intended for testing
1065: and experimentation. It is not intended for production use because only a
1066: single pattern can be written to a file. Furthermore, there is no facility for
1067: supplying custom character tables for use with a reloaded pattern. If the
1068: original pattern was compiled with custom tables, an attempt to match a subject
1069: string using a reloaded pattern is likely to cause \fBpcretest\fP to crash.
1070: Finally, if you attempt to load a file that is not in the correct format, the
1071: result is undefined.
1072: .
1073: .
1074: .SH "SEE ALSO"
1075: .rs
1076: .sp
1.1.1.4 ! misho 1077: \fBpcre\fP(3), \fBpcre16\fP(3), \fBpcre32\fP(3), \fBpcreapi\fP(3),
! 1078: \fBpcrecallout\fP(3),
1.1.1.2 misho 1079: \fBpcrejit\fP, \fBpcrematching\fP(3), \fBpcrepartial\fP(d),
1080: \fBpcrepattern\fP(3), \fBpcreprecompile\fP(3).
1.1 misho 1081: .
1082: .
1083: .SH AUTHOR
1084: .rs
1085: .sp
1086: .nf
1087: Philip Hazel
1088: University Computing Service
1089: Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
1090: .fi
1091: .
1092: .
1093: .SH REVISION
1094: .rs
1095: .sp
1096: .nf
1.1.1.4 ! misho 1097: Last updated: 26 April 2013
! 1098: Copyright (c) 1997-2013 University of Cambridge.
1.1 misho 1099: .fi
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