/[pcre]/code/trunk/doc/pcrecompat.3
ViewVC logotype

Diff of /code/trunk/doc/pcrecompat.3

Parent Directory Parent Directory | Revision Log Revision Log | View Patch Patch

revision 453 by ph10, Fri Sep 18 19:12:35 2009 UTC revision 459 by ph10, Sun Oct 4 09:21:39 2009 UTC
# Line 5  PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressio Line 5  PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressio
5  .rs  .rs
6  .sp  .sp
7  This document describes the differences in the ways that PCRE and Perl handle  This document describes the differences in the ways that PCRE and Perl handle
8  regular expressions. The differences described here are mainly with respect to  regular expressions. The differences described here are with respect to Perl
9  Perl 5.8, though PCRE versions 7.0 and later contain some features that are  5.10.
 in Perl 5.10.  
10  .P  .P
11  1. PCRE has only a subset of Perl's UTF-8 and Unicode support. Details of what  1. PCRE has only a subset of Perl's UTF-8 and Unicode support. Details of what
12  it does have are given in the  it does have are given in the
# Line 86  section on recursion differences from Pe Line 85  section on recursion differences from Pe
85  .\"  .\"
86  in the  in the
87  .\" HREF  .\" HREF
88  \fBpcrecompat\fP  \fBpcrepattern\fP
89  .\"  .\"
90  page.  page.
91  .P  .P
# Line 98  the pattern /^(a(b)?)+$/ in Perl leaves Line 97  the pattern /^(a(b)?)+$/ in Perl leaves
97  (*COMMIT), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), and (*THEN), but only in the forms without an  (*COMMIT), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), and (*THEN), but only in the forms without an
98  argument. PCRE does not support (*MARK).  argument. PCRE does not support (*MARK).
99  .P  .P
100  12. PCRE provides some extensions to the Perl regular expression facilities.  12. PCRE's handling of duplicate subpattern numbers and duplicate subpattern
101  Perl 5.10 will include new features that are not in earlier versions, some of  names is not as general as Perl's. This is a consequence of the fact the PCRE
102  which (such as named parentheses) have been in PCRE for some time. This list is  works internally just with numbers, using an external table to translate
103  with respect to Perl 5.10:  between numbers and names. In particular, a pattern such as (?|(?<a>A)|(?<b)B),
104  .sp  where the two capturing parentheses have the same number but different names,
105  (a) Although lookbehind assertions must match fixed length strings, each  is not supported, and causes an error at compile time. If it were allowed, it
106  alternative branch of a lookbehind assertion can match a different length of  would not be possible to distinguish which parentheses matched, because both
107  string. Perl requires them all to have the same length.  names map to capturing subpattern number 1. To avoid this confusing situation,
108    an error is given at compile time.
109    .P
110    13. PCRE provides some extensions to the Perl regular expression facilities.
111    Perl 5.10 includes new features that are not in earlier versions of Perl, some
112    of which (such as named parentheses) have been in PCRE for some time. This list
113    is with respect to Perl 5.10:
114    .sp
115    (a) Although lookbehind assertions in PCRE must match fixed length strings,
116    each alternative branch of a lookbehind assertion can match a different length
117    of string. Perl requires them all to have the same length.
118  .sp  .sp
119  (b) If PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set and PCRE_MULTILINE is not set, the $  (b) If PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set and PCRE_MULTILINE is not set, the $
120  meta-character matches only at the very end of the string.  meta-character matches only at the very end of the string.
# Line 155  Cambridge CB2 3QH, England. Line 164  Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
164  .rs  .rs
165  .sp  .sp
166  .nf  .nf
167  Last updated: 18 September 2009  Last updated: 04 October 2009
168  Copyright (c) 1997-2009 University of Cambridge.  Copyright (c) 1997-2009 University of Cambridge.
169  .fi  .fi
Legend:
Removed from v.453  
changed lines
  Added in v.459
  ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.5