trunk/doc/pcrepartial.3

.TH PCRE 3
.SH NAME
PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
.SH "PARTIAL MATCHING IN PCRE"
.rs
.sp
In normal use of PCRE, if the subject string that is passed to
\fBpcre_exec()\fP matches as far as it goes, but is too short to match the
entire pattern, PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH is returned. There are circumstances where
it might be helpful to distinguish this case from other cases in which there is
no match.
.P
Consider, for example, an application where a human is required to type in data
for a field with specific formatting requirements. An example might be a date
in the form \fIddmmmyy\fP, defined by this pattern:
.sp
  ^\ed?\ed(jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)\ed\ed$
.sp
If the application sees the user's keystrokes one by one, and can check that
what has been typed so far is potentially valid, it is able to raise an error
as soon as a mistake is made, possibly beeping and not reflecting the
character that has been typed. This immediate feedback is likely to be a better
user interface than a check that is delayed until the entire string has been
entered.
.P
PCRE supports the concept of partial matching by means of the PCRE_PARTIAL
option, which can be set when calling \fBpcre_exec()\fP. When this is done, the
return code PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH is converted into PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if at any
time during the matching process the entire subject string matched part of the
pattern. No captured data is set when this occurs.
.P
Using PCRE_PARTIAL disables one of PCRE's optimizations. PCRE remembers the
last literal byte in a pattern, and abandons matching immediately if such a
byte is not present in the subject string. This optimization cannot be used
for a subject string that might match only partially.
.
.
.SH "RESTRICTED PATTERNS FOR PCRE_PARTIAL"
.rs
.sp
Because of the way certain internal optimizations are implemented in PCRE, the
PCRE_PARTIAL option cannot be used with all patterns. Repeated single
characters such as
.sp
  a{2,4}
.sp
and repeated single metasequences such as
.sp
  \ed+
.sp
are not permitted if the maximum number of occurrences is greater than one.
Optional items such as \ed? (where the maximum is one) are permitted.
Quantifiers with any values are permitted after parentheses, so the invalid
examples above can be coded thus:
.sp
  (a){2,4}
  (\ed)+
.sp
These constructions run more slowly, but for the kinds of application that are
envisaged for this facility, this is not felt to be a major restriction.
.P
If PCRE_PARTIAL is set for a pattern that does not conform to the restrictions,
\fBpcre_exec()\fP returns the error code PCRE_ERROR_BADPARTIAL (-13).
.
.
.SH "EXAMPLE OF PARTIAL MATCHING USING PCRETEST"
.rs
.sp
If the escape sequence \eP is present in a \fBpcretest\fP data line, the
PCRE_PARTIAL flag is used for the match. Here is a run of \fBpcretest\fP that
uses the date example quoted above:
.sp
    re> /^\ed?\ed(jan|feb|mar|apr|may|jun|jul|aug|sep|oct|nov|dec)\ed\ed$/
  data> 25jun04\P
   0: 25jun04
   1: jun
  data> 25dec3\P
  Partial match
  data> 3ju\P
  Partial match
  data> 3juj\P
  No match
  data> j\P
  No match
.sp
The first data string is matched completely, so \fBpcretest\fP shows the
matched substrings. The remaining four strings do not match the complete
pattern, but the first two are partial matches.
.
.
.P
.in 0
Last updated: 08 September 2004
.br
Copyright (c) 1997-2004 University of Cambridge.
1	.TH PCRE 3
2	.SH NAME
3	PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
4	.SH "PARTIAL MATCHING IN PCRE"
5	.rs
6	.sp
7	In normal use of PCRE, if the subject string that is passed to
8	\fBpcre_exec()\fP matches as far as it goes, but is too short to match the
9	entire pattern, PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH is returned. There are circumstances where
10	it might be helpful to distinguish this case from other cases in which there is
11	no match.
12	.P
13	Consider, for example, an application where a human is required to type in data
14	for a field with specific formatting requirements. An example might be a date
15	in the form \fIddmmmyy\fP, defined by this pattern:
16	.sp
17	^\ed?\ed(jan\|feb\|mar\|apr\|may\|jun\|jul\|aug\|sep\|oct\|nov\|dec)\ed\ed$
18	.sp
19	If the application sees the user's keystrokes one by one, and can check that
20	what has been typed so far is potentially valid, it is able to raise an error
21	as soon as a mistake is made, possibly beeping and not reflecting the
22	character that has been typed. This immediate feedback is likely to be a better
23	user interface than a check that is delayed until the entire string has been
24	entered.
25	.P
26	PCRE supports the concept of partial matching by means of the PCRE_PARTIAL
27	option, which can be set when calling \fBpcre_exec()\fP. When this is done, the
28	return code PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH is converted into PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if at any
29	time during the matching process the entire subject string matched part of the
30	pattern. No captured data is set when this occurs.
31	.P
32	Using PCRE_PARTIAL disables one of PCRE's optimizations. PCRE remembers the
33	last literal byte in a pattern, and abandons matching immediately if such a
34	byte is not present in the subject string. This optimization cannot be used
35	for a subject string that might match only partially.
36	.
37	.
38	.SH "RESTRICTED PATTERNS FOR PCRE_PARTIAL"
39	.rs
40	.sp
41	Because of the way certain internal optimizations are implemented in PCRE, the
42	PCRE_PARTIAL option cannot be used with all patterns. Repeated single
43	characters such as
44	.sp
45	a{2,4}
46	.sp
47	and repeated single metasequences such as
48	.sp
49	\ed+
50	.sp
51	are not permitted if the maximum number of occurrences is greater than one.
52	Optional items such as \ed? (where the maximum is one) are permitted.
53	Quantifiers with any values are permitted after parentheses, so the invalid
54	examples above can be coded thus:
55	.sp
56	(a){2,4}
57	(\ed)+
58	.sp
59	These constructions run more slowly, but for the kinds of application that are
60	envisaged for this facility, this is not felt to be a major restriction.
61	.P
62	If PCRE_PARTIAL is set for a pattern that does not conform to the restrictions,
63	\fBpcre_exec()\fP returns the error code PCRE_ERROR_BADPARTIAL (-13).
64	.
65	.
66	.SH "EXAMPLE OF PARTIAL MATCHING USING PCRETEST"
67	.rs
68	.sp
69	If the escape sequence \eP is present in a \fBpcretest\fP data line, the
70	PCRE_PARTIAL flag is used for the match. Here is a run of \fBpcretest\fP that
71	uses the date example quoted above:
72	.sp
73	re> /^\ed?\ed(jan\|feb\|mar\|apr\|may\|jun\|jul\|aug\|sep\|oct\|nov\|dec)\ed\ed$/
74	data> 25jun04\P
75	0: 25jun04
76	1: jun
77	data> 25dec3\P
78	Partial match
79	data> 3ju\P
80	Partial match
81	data> 3juj\P
82	No match
83	data> j\P
84	No match
85	.sp
86	The first data string is matched completely, so \fBpcretest\fP shows the
87	matched substrings. The remaining four strings do not match the complete
88	pattern, but the first two are partial matches.
89	.
90	.
91	.P
92	.in 0
93	Last updated: 08 September 2004
94	.br
95	Copyright (c) 1997-2004 University of Cambridge.