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+.TH REGEX 3 "25 Sept 1997"
+.BY "Henry Spencer"
+.de ZR
+.\" one other place knows this name: the SEE ALSO section
+.IR regex (7) \\$1
+..
+.SH NAME
+regcomp, regexec, regerror, regfree \- regular-expression library
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.ft B
+.\".na
+#include <sys/types.h>
+.br
+#include <regex.h>
+.HP 10
+int regcomp(regex_t\ *preg, const\ char\ *pattern, int\ cflags);
+.HP
+int\ regexec(const\ regex_t\ *preg, const\ char\ *string,
+size_t\ nmatch, regmatch_t\ pmatch[], int\ eflags);
+.HP
+size_t\ regerror(int\ errcode, const\ regex_t\ *preg,
+char\ *errbuf, size_t\ errbuf_size);
+.HP
+void\ regfree(regex_t\ *preg);
+.\".ad
+.ft
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+These routines implement POSIX 1003.2 regular expressions (``RE''s);
+see
+.ZR .
+.I Regcomp
+compiles an RE written as a string into an internal form,
+.I regexec
+matches that internal form against a string and reports results,
+.I regerror
+transforms error codes from either into human-readable messages,
+and
+.I regfree
+frees any dynamically-allocated storage used by the internal form
+of an RE.
+.PP
+The header
+.I <regex.h>
+declares two structure types,
+.I regex_t
+and
+.IR regmatch_t ,
+the former for compiled internal forms and the latter for match reporting.
+It also declares the four functions,
+a type
+.IR regoff_t ,
+and a number of constants with names starting with ``REG_''.
+.PP
+.I Regcomp
+compiles the regular expression contained in the
+.I pattern
+string,
+subject to the flags in
+.IR cflags ,
+and places the results in the
+.I regex_t
+structure pointed to by
+.IR preg .
+.I Cflags
+is the bitwise OR of zero or more of the following flags:
+.IP REG_EXTENDED \w'REG_EXTENDED'u+2n
+Compile modern (``extended'') REs,
+rather than the obsolete (``basic'') REs that
+are the default.
+.IP REG_BASIC
+This is a synonym for 0,
+provided as a counterpart to REG_EXTENDED to improve readability.
+This is an extension,
+compatible with but not specified by POSIX 1003.2,
+and should be used with
+caution in software intended to be portable to other systems.
+.IP REG_NOSPEC
+Compile with recognition of all special characters turned off.
+All characters are thus considered ordinary,
+so the ``RE'' is a literal string.
+This is an extension,
+compatible with but not specified by POSIX 1003.2,
+and should be used with
+caution in software intended to be portable to other systems.
+REG_EXTENDED and REG_NOSPEC may not be used
+in the same call to
+.IR regcomp .
+.IP REG_ICASE
+Compile for matching that ignores upper/lower case distinctions.
+See
+.ZR .
+.IP REG_NOSUB
+Compile for matching that need only report success or failure,
+not what was matched.
+.IP REG_NEWLINE
+Compile for newline-sensitive matching.
+By default, newline is a completely ordinary character with no special
+meaning in either REs or strings.
+With this flag,
+`[^' bracket expressions and `.' never match newline,
+a `^' anchor matches the null string after any newline in the string
+in addition to its normal function,
+and the `$' anchor matches the null string before any newline in the
+string in addition to its normal function.
+.IP REG_PEND
+The regular expression ends,
+not at the first NUL,
+but just before the character pointed to by the
+.I re_endp
+member of the structure pointed to by
+.IR preg .
+The
+.I re_endp
+member is of type
+.IR const\ char\ * .
+This flag permits inclusion of NULs in the RE;
+they are considered ordinary characters.
+This is an extension,
+compatible with but not specified by POSIX 1003.2,
+and should be used with
+caution in software intended to be portable to other systems.
+.PP
+When successful,
+.I regcomp
+returns 0 and fills in the structure pointed to by
+.IR preg .
+One member of that structure
+(other than
+.IR re_endp )
+is publicized:
+.IR re_nsub ,
+of type
+.IR size_t ,
+contains the number of parenthesized subexpressions within the RE
+(except that the value of this member is undefined if the
+REG_NOSUB flag was used).
+If
+.I regcomp
+fails, it returns a non-zero error code;
+see DIAGNOSTICS.
+.PP
+.I Regexec
+matches the compiled RE pointed to by
+.I preg
+against the
+.IR string ,
+subject to the flags in
+.IR eflags ,
+and reports results using
+.IR nmatch ,
+.IR pmatch ,
+and the returned value.
+The RE must have been compiled by a previous invocation of
+.IR regcomp .
+The compiled form is not altered during execution of
+.IR regexec ,
+so a single compiled RE can be used simultaneously by multiple threads.
+.PP
+By default,
+the NUL-terminated string pointed to by
+.I string
+is considered to be the text of an entire line,
+with the NUL indicating the end of the line.
+(That is,
+any other end-of-line marker is considered to have been removed
+and replaced by the NUL.)
+The
+.I eflags
+argument is the bitwise OR of zero or more of the following flags:
+.IP REG_NOTBOL \w'REG_STARTEND'u+2n
+The first character of
+the string
+is not the beginning of a line, so the `^' anchor should not match before it.
+This does not affect the behavior of newlines under REG_NEWLINE.
+.IP REG_NOTEOL
+The NUL terminating
+the string
+does not end a line, so the `$' anchor should not match before it.
+This does not affect the behavior of newlines under REG_NEWLINE.
+.IP REG_STARTEND
+The string is considered to start at
+\fIstring\fR\ + \fIpmatch\fR[0].\fIrm_so\fR
+and to have a terminating NUL located at
+\fIstring\fR\ + \fIpmatch\fR[0].\fIrm_eo\fR
+(there need not actually be a NUL at that location),
+regardless of the value of
+.IR nmatch .
+See below for the definition of
+.IR pmatch
+and
+.IR nmatch .
+This is an extension,
+compatible with but not specified by POSIX 1003.2,
+and should be used with
+caution in software intended to be portable to other systems.
+Note that a non-zero \fIrm_so\fR does not imply REG_NOTBOL;
+REG_STARTEND affects only the location of the string,
+not how it is matched.
+.PP
+See
+.ZR
+for a discussion of what is matched in situations where an RE or a
+portion thereof could match any of several substrings of
+.IR string .
+.PP
+Normally,
+.I regexec
+returns 0 for success and the non-zero code REG_NOMATCH for failure.
+Other non-zero error codes may be returned in exceptional situations;
+see DIAGNOSTICS.
+.PP
+If REG_NOSUB was specified in the compilation of the RE,
+or if
+.I nmatch
+is 0,
+.I regexec
+ignores the
+.I pmatch
+argument (but see below for the case where REG_STARTEND is specified).
+Otherwise,
+.I pmatch
+points to an array of
+.I nmatch
+structures of type
+.IR regmatch_t .
+Such a structure has at least the members
+.I rm_so
+and
+.IR rm_eo ,
+both of type
+.I regoff_t
+(a signed arithmetic type at least as large as an
+.I off_t
+and a
+.IR ssize_t ),
+containing respectively the offset of the first character of a substring
+and the offset of the first character after the end of the substring.
+Offsets are measured from the beginning of the
+.I string
+argument given to
+.IR regexec .
+An empty substring is denoted by equal offsets,
+both indicating the character following the empty substring.
+.PP
+The 0th member of the
+.I pmatch
+array is filled in to indicate what substring of
+.I string
+was matched by the entire RE.
+Remaining members report what substring was matched by parenthesized
+subexpressions within the RE;
+member
+.I i
+reports subexpression
+.IR i ,
+with subexpressions counted (starting at 1) by the order of their opening
+parentheses in the RE, left to right.
+Unused entries in the array\(emcorresponding either to subexpressions that
+did not participate in the match at all, or to subexpressions that do not
+exist in the RE (that is, \fIi\fR\ > \fIpreg\fR\->\fIre_nsub\fR)\(emhave both
+.I rm_so
+and
+.I rm_eo
+set to \-1.
+If a subexpression participated in the match several times,
+the reported substring is the last one it matched.
+(Note, as an example in particular, that when the RE `(b*)+' matches `bbb',
+the parenthesized subexpression matches the three `b's and then
+an infinite number of empty strings following the last `b',
+so the reported substring is one of the empties.)
+.PP
+If REG_STARTEND is specified,
+.I pmatch
+must point to at least one
+.I regmatch_t
+(even if
+.I nmatch
+is 0 or REG_NOSUB was specified),
+to hold the input offsets for REG_STARTEND.
+Use for output is still entirely controlled by
+.IR nmatch ;
+if
+.I nmatch
+is 0 or REG_NOSUB was specified,
+the value of
+.IR pmatch [0]
+will not be changed by a successful
+.IR regexec .
+.PP
+.I Regerror
+maps a non-zero
+.I errcode
+from either
+.I regcomp
+or
+.I regexec
+to a human-readable, printable message.
+If
+.I preg
+is non-NULL,
+the error code should have arisen from use of
+the
+.I regex_t
+pointed to by
+.IR preg ,
+and if the error code came from
+.IR regcomp ,
+it should have been the result from the most recent
+.I regcomp
+using that
+.IR regex_t .
+.RI ( Regerror
+may be able to supply a more detailed message using information
+from the
+.IR regex_t .)
+.I Regerror
+places the NUL-terminated message into the buffer pointed to by
+.IR errbuf ,
+limiting the length (including the NUL) to at most
+.I errbuf_size
+bytes.
+If the whole message won't fit,
+as much of it as will fit before the terminating NUL is supplied.
+In any case,
+the returned value is the size of buffer needed to hold the whole
+message (including terminating NUL).
+If
+.I errbuf_size
+is 0,
+.I errbuf
+is ignored but the return value is still correct.
+.PP
+If the
+.I errcode
+given to
+.I regerror
+is first ORed with REG_ITOA,
+the ``message'' that results is the printable name of the error code,
+e.g. ``REG_NOMATCH'',
+rather than an explanation thereof.
+If
+.I errcode
+is REG_ATOI,
+then
+.I preg
+shall be non-NULL and the
+.I re_endp
+member of the structure it points to
+must point to the printable name of an error code;
+in this case, the result in
+.I errbuf
+is the decimal digits of
+the numeric value of the error code
+(0 if the name is not recognized).
+REG_ITOA and REG_ATOI are intended primarily as debugging facilities;
+they are extensions,
+compatible with but not specified by POSIX 1003.2,
+and should be used with
+caution in software intended to be portable to other systems.
+Be warned also that they are considered experimental and changes are possible.
+.PP
+.I Regfree
+frees any dynamically-allocated storage associated with the compiled RE
+pointed to by
+.IR preg .
+The remaining
+.I regex_t
+is no longer a valid compiled RE
+and the effect of supplying it to
+.I regexec
+or
+.I regerror
+is undefined.
+.PP
+None of these functions references global variables except for tables
+of constants;
+all are safe for use from multiple threads if the arguments are safe.
+.SH IMPLEMENTATION CHOICES
+There are a number of decisions that 1003.2 leaves up to the implementor,
+either by explicitly saying ``undefined'' or by virtue of them being
+forbidden by the RE grammar.
+This implementation treats them as follows.
+.PP
+See
+.ZR
+for a discussion of the definition of case-independent matching.
+.PP
+There is no particular limit on the length of REs,
+except insofar as memory is limited.
+Memory usage is approximately linear in RE size, and largely insensitive
+to RE complexity, except for bounded repetitions.
+See BUGS for one short RE using them
+that will run almost any system out of memory.
+.PP
+A backslashed character other than one specifically given a magic meaning
+by 1003.2 (such magic meanings occur only in obsolete [``basic''] REs)
+is taken as an ordinary character.
+.PP
+Any unmatched [ is a REG_EBRACK error.
+.PP
+Equivalence classes cannot begin or end bracket-expression ranges.
+The endpoint of one range cannot begin another.
+.PP
+RE_DUP_MAX, the limit on repetition counts in bounded repetitions, is 255.
+.PP
+A repetition operator (?, *, +, or bounds) cannot follow another
+repetition operator.
+A repetition operator cannot begin an expression or subexpression
+or follow `^' or `|'.
+.PP
+`|' cannot appear first or last in a (sub)expression or after another `|',
+i.e. an operand of `|' cannot be an empty subexpression.
+An empty parenthesized subexpression, `()', is legal and matches an
+empty (sub)string.
+An empty string is not a legal RE.
+.PP
+A `{' followed by a digit is considered the beginning of bounds for a
+bounded repetition, which must then follow the syntax for bounds.
+A `{' \fInot\fR followed by a digit is considered an ordinary character.
+.PP
+`^' and `$' beginning and ending subexpressions in obsolete (``basic'')
+REs are anchors, not ordinary characters.
+.SH SEE ALSO
+grep(1), regex(7)
+.PP
+POSIX 1003.2, sections 2.8 (Regular Expression Notation)
+and
+B.5 (C Binding for Regular Expression Matching).
+.SH DIAGNOSTICS
+Non-zero error codes from
+.I regcomp
+and
+.I regexec
+include the following:
+.PP
+.nf
+.ta \w'REG_ECOLLATE'u+3n
+REG_NOMATCH regexec() failed to match
+REG_BADPAT invalid regular expression
+REG_ECOLLATE invalid collating element
+REG_ECTYPE invalid character class
+REG_EESCAPE \e applied to unescapable character
+REG_ESUBREG invalid backreference number
+REG_EBRACK brackets [ ] not balanced
+REG_EPAREN parentheses ( ) not balanced
+REG_EBRACE braces { } not balanced
+REG_BADBR invalid repetition count(s) in { }
+REG_ERANGE invalid character range in [ ]
+REG_ESPACE ran out of memory
+REG_BADRPT ?, *, or + operand invalid
+REG_EMPTY empty (sub)expression
+REG_ASSERT ``can't happen''\(emyou found a bug
+REG_INVARG invalid argument, e.g. negative-length string
+.fi
+.SH HISTORY
+Written by Henry Spencer,
+henry@zoo.toronto.edu.
+.SH BUGS
+This is an alpha release with known defects.
+Please report problems.
+.PP
+There is one known functionality bug.
+The implementation of internationalization is incomplete:
+the locale is always assumed to be the default one of 1003.2,
+and only the collating elements etc. of that locale are available.
+.PP
+The back-reference code is subtle and doubts linger about its correctness
+in complex cases.
+.PP
+.I Regexec
+performance is poor.
+This will improve with later releases.
+.I Nmatch
+exceeding 0 is expensive;
+.I nmatch
+exceeding 1 is worse.
+.I Regexec
+is largely insensitive to RE complexity \fIexcept\fR that back
+references are massively expensive.
+RE length does matter; in particular, there is a strong speed bonus
+for keeping RE length under about 30 characters,
+with most special characters counting roughly double.
+.PP
+.I Regcomp
+implements bounded repetitions by macro expansion,
+which is costly in time and space if counts are large
+or bounded repetitions are nested.
+An RE like, say,
+`((((a{1,100}){1,100}){1,100}){1,100}){1,100}'
+will (eventually) run almost any existing machine out of swap space.
+.PP
+There are suspected problems with response to obscure error conditions.
+Notably,
+certain kinds of internal overflow,
+produced only by truly enormous REs or by multiply nested bounded repetitions,
+are probably not handled well.
+.PP
+Due to a mistake in 1003.2, things like `a)b' are legal REs because `)' is
+a special character only in the presence of a previous unmatched `('.
+This can't be fixed until the spec is fixed.
+.PP
+The standard's definition of back references is vague.
+For example, does
+`a\e(\e(b\e)*\e2\e)*d' match `abbbd'?
+Until the standard is clarified,
+behavior in such cases should not be relied on.
+.PP
+The implementation of word-boundary matching is a bit of a kludge,
+and bugs may lurk in combinations of word-boundary matching and anchoring.