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NAME
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pcretest - a program for testing Perl-compatible regular
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expressions.
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2002-09-14 14:45:35 +00:00
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SYNOPSIS
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pcretest [-d] [-i] [-m] [-o osize] [-p] [-t] [source] [des-
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tination]
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2002-09-14 14:45:35 +00:00
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pcretest was written as a test program for the PCRE regular
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expression library itself, but it can also be used for
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experimenting with regular expressions. This man page
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describes the features of the test program; for details of
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the regular expressions themselves, see the pcre man page.
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2002-09-14 14:45:35 +00:00
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OPTIONS
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-d Behave as if each regex had the /D modifier (see
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below); the internal form is output after compila-
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tion.
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-i Behave as if each regex had the /I modifier;
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information about the compiled pattern is given
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after compilation.
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-m Output the size of each compiled pattern after it
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has been compiled. This is equivalent to adding /M
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to each regular expression. For compatibility with
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earlier versions of pcretest, -s is a synonym for
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-m.
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-o osize Set the number of elements in the output vector
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that is used when calling PCRE to be osize. The
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default value is 45, which is enough for 14 cap-
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turing subexpressions. The vector size can be
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changed for individual matching calls by including
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\O in the data line (see below).
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-p Behave as if each regex has /P modifier; the POSIX
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wrapper API is used to call PCRE. None of the
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other options has any effect when -p is set.
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-t Run each compile, study, and match 20000 times
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with a timer, and output resulting time per com-
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pile or match (in milliseconds). Do not set -t
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with -m, because you will then get the size output
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20000 times and the timing will be distorted.
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2001-02-20 22:00:33 +00:00
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DESCRIPTION
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If pcretest is given two filename arguments, it reads from
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the first and writes to the second. If it is given only one
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2002-09-14 14:45:35 +00:00
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SunOS 5.8 Last change: 1
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filename argument, it reads from that file and writes to
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stdout. Otherwise, it reads from stdin and writes to stdout,
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and prompts for each line of input, using "re>" to prompt
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for regular expressions, and "data>" to prompt for data
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lines.
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The program handles any number of sets of input on a single
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input file. Each set starts with a regular expression, and
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continues with any number of data lines to be matched
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against the pattern. An empty line signals the end of the
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data lines, at which point a new regular expression is read.
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The regular expressions are given enclosed in any non-
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alphameric delimiters other than backslash, for example
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/(a|bc)x+yz/
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White space before the initial delimiter is ignored. A regu-
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lar expression may be continued over several input lines, in
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which case the newline characters are included within it. It
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is possible to include the delimiter within the pattern by
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escaping it, for example
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/abc\/def/
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If you do so, the escape and the delimiter form part of the
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pattern, but since delimiters are always non-alphameric,
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this does not affect its interpretation. If the terminating
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delimiter is immediately followed by a backslash, for exam-
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ple,
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/abc/\
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then a backslash is added to the end of the pattern. This is
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done to provide a way of testing the error condition that
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arises if a pattern finishes with a backslash, because
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/abc\/
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is interpreted as the first line of a pattern that starts
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with "abc/", causing pcretest to read the next line as a
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continuation of the regular expression.
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PATTERN MODIFIERS
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The pattern may be followed by i, m, s, or x to set the
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PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, PCRE_DOTALL, or PCRE_EXTENDED
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options, respectively. For example:
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/caseless/i
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These modifier letters have the same effect as they do in
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Perl. There are others which set PCRE options that do not
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correspond to anything in Perl: /A, /E, and /X set
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PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY, and PCRE_EXTRA respec-
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tively.
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Searching for all possible matches within each subject
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string can be requested by the /g or /G modifier. After
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finding a match, PCRE is called again to search the
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remainder of the subject string. The difference between /g
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and /G is that the former uses the startoffset argument to
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pcre_exec() to start searching at a new point within the
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entire string (which is in effect what Perl does), whereas
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the latter passes over a shortened substring. This makes a
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difference to the matching process if the pattern begins
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with a lookbehind assertion (including \b or \B).
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If any call to pcre_exec() in a /g or /G sequence matches an
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empty string, the next call is done with the PCRE_NOTEMPTY
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and PCRE_ANCHORED flags set in order to search for another,
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non-empty, match at the same point. If this second match
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fails, the start offset is advanced by one, and the normal
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match is retried. This imitates the way Perl handles such
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cases when using the /g modifier or the split() function.
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There are a number of other modifiers for controlling the
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way pcretest operates.
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The /+ modifier requests that as well as outputting the sub-
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string that matched the entire pattern, pcretest should in
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addition output the remainder of the subject string. This is
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useful for tests where the subject contains multiple copies
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of the same substring.
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The /L modifier must be followed directly by the name of a
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locale, for example,
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/pattern/Lfr
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For this reason, it must be the last modifier letter. The
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given locale is set, pcre_maketables() is called to build a
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set of character tables for the locale, and this is then
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passed to pcre_compile() when compiling the regular expres-
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sion. Without an /L modifier, NULL is passed as the tables
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pointer; that is, /L applies only to the expression on which
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it appears.
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The /I modifier requests that pcretest output information
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about the compiled expression (whether it is anchored, has a
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fixed first character, and so on). It does this by calling
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pcre_fullinfo() after compiling an expression, and output-
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ting the information it gets back. If the pattern is stu-
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died, the results of that are also output.
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The /D modifier is a PCRE debugging feature, which also
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assumes /I. It causes the internal form of compiled regular
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expressions to be output after compilation.
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The /S modifier causes pcre_study() to be called after the
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expression has been compiled, and the results used when the
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expression is matched.
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The /M modifier causes the size of memory block used to hold
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the compiled pattern to be output.
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The /P modifier causes pcretest to call PCRE via the POSIX
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wrapper API rather than its native API. When this is done,
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all other modifiers except /i, /m, and /+ are ignored.
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REG_ICASE is set if /i is present, and REG_NEWLINE is set if
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/m is present. The wrapper functions force
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PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY always, and PCRE_DOTALL unless
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REG_NEWLINE is set.
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The /8 modifier causes pcretest to call PCRE with the
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PCRE_UTF8 option set. This turns on the (currently incom-
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plete) support for UTF-8 character handling in PCRE, pro-
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vided that it was compiled with this support enabled. This
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modifier also causes any non-printing characters in output
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strings to be printed using the \x{hh...} notation if they
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are valid UTF-8 sequences.
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DATA LINES
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Before each data line is passed to pcre_exec(), leading and
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trailing whitespace is removed, and it is then scanned for \
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escapes. The following are recognized:
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\a alarm (= BEL)
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\b backspace
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\e escape
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\f formfeed
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\n newline
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\r carriage return
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\t tab
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\v vertical tab
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\nnn octal character (up to 3 octal digits)
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\xhh hexadecimal character (up to 2 hex digits)
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\x{hh...} hexadecimal UTF-8 character
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\A pass the PCRE_ANCHORED option to pcre_exec()
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\B pass the PCRE_NOTBOL option to pcre_exec()
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\Cdd call pcre_copy_substring() for substring dd
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after a successful match (any decimal number
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less than 32)
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\Gdd call pcre_get_substring() for substring dd
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after a successful match (any decimal number
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less than 32)
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\L call pcre_get_substringlist() after a
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successful match
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\N pass the PCRE_NOTEMPTY option to pcre_exec()
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\Odd set the size of the output vector passed to
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pcre_exec() to dd (any number of decimal
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digits)
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\Z pass the PCRE_NOTEOL option to pcre_exec()
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When \O is used, it may be higher or lower than the size set
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by the -O option (or defaulted to 45); \O applies only to
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the call of pcre_exec() for the line in which it appears.
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A backslash followed by anything else just escapes the any-
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thing else. If the very last character is a backslash, it is
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ignored. This gives a way of passing an empty line as data,
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since a real empty line terminates the data input.
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If /P was present on the regex, causing the POSIX wrapper
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API to be used, only B, and Z have any effect, causing
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REG_NOTBOL and REG_NOTEOL to be passed to regexec() respec-
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tively.
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The use of \x{hh...} to represent UTF-8 characters is not
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dependent on the use of the /8 modifier on the pattern. It
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is recognized always. There may be any number of hexadecimal
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digits inside the braces. The result is from one to six
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bytes, encoded according to the UTF-8 rules.
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OUTPUT FROM PCRETEST
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When a match succeeds, pcretest outputs the list of captured
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substrings that pcre_exec() returns, starting with number 0
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for the string that matched the whole pattern. Here is an
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example of an interactive pcretest run.
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$ pcretest
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PCRE version 2.06 08-Jun-1999
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re> /^abc(\d+)/
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data> abc123
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0: abc123
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1: 123
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data> xyz
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No match
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If the strings contain any non-printing characters, they are
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output as \0x escapes, or as \x{...} escapes if the /8
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modifier was present on the pattern. If the pattern has the
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/+ modifier, then the output for substring 0 is followed by
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the the rest of the subject string, identified by "0+" like
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this:
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re> /cat/+
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data> cataract
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0: cat
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0+ aract
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If the pattern has the /g or /G modifier, the results of
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successive matching attempts are output in sequence, like
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this:
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re> /\Bi(\w\w)/g
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data> Mississippi
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0: iss
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1: ss
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0: iss
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1: ss
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0: ipp
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1: pp
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"No match" is output only if the first match attempt fails.
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If any of the sequences \C, \G, or \L are present in a data
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line that is successfully matched, the substrings extracted
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by the convenience functions are output with C, G, or L
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after the string number instead of a colon. This is in addi-
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tion to the normal full list. The string length (that is,
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the return from the extraction function) is given in
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parentheses after each string for \C and \G.
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Note that while patterns can be continued over several lines
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(a plain ">" prompt is used for continuations), data lines
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may not. However newlines can be included in data by means
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of the \n escape.
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AUTHOR
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Philip Hazel <ph10@cam.ac.uk>
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University Computing Service,
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New Museums Site,
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Cambridge CB2 3QG, England.
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Phone: +44 1223 334714
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Last updated: 15 August 2001
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Copyright (c) 1997-2001 University of Cambridge.
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