Google Git Google Git
Sign in
fuchsia/third_party/github.com/PCRE2Project/pcre2/refs/heads/upstream/copilot/research-jit-stack-allocation-bug/./doc/pcre2api.adoc
blob: e8df8d6f0524ce0596ccb717ad747f683491837e [file] [edit]
= pcre2api(3)
:doctype: manpage
:manname: pcre2api
:manpurpose: PCRE2 native API
:manvolnum: 3
:manmanual: PCRE2
:mansource: PCRE2 10.49-DEV
:docdate: 08 December 2025
:revdate: 08 December 2025
== Description
[.c]`#include <pcre2.h>`
PCRE2 is a new API for PCRE, starting at release 10.0. This document contains a
description of all its native functions. See the
xref:pcre2.adoc[`pcre2`]
document for an overview of all the PCRE2 documentation.
== PCRE2 native API basic functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_code *pcre2_compile(PCRE2_SPTR pattern, PCRE2_SIZE patlen,
uint32_t options, int *errorptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *erroroffset,
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_code_free(pcre2_code *code);
pcre2_match_data *pcre2_match_data_create(
uint32_t oveccount, pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_match_data *pcre2_match_data_create_from_pattern(
const pcre2_code *code, pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
int pcre2_dfa_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext, int *workspace,
PCRE2_SIZE wscount);
void pcre2_match_data_free(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
== PCRE2 native API auxiliary match functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
PCRE2_SPTR pcre2_get_mark(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_match_data_size(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_match_data_heapframes_size(
pcre2_match_data *match_data);
uint32_t pcre2_get_ovector_count(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE *pcre2_get_ovector_pointer(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_startchar(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
== PCRE2 native API general context functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_general_context *pcre2_general_context_create(
void *(*private_malloc)(size_t size, void *memory_data),
void (*private_free)(void *ptr, void *memory_data),
void *memory_data);
pcre2_general_context *pcre2_general_context_copy(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_general_context_free(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
----
== PCRE2 native API compile context functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_compile_context *pcre2_compile_context_create(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_compile_context *pcre2_compile_context_copy(
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_compile_context_free(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
int pcre2_get_bsr(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, uint32_t *length);
int pcre2_get_max_pattern_length(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
PCRE2_SIZE *length);
int pcre2_get_newline(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t *newline);
int pcre2_get_parens_nest_limit(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_set_bsr(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, uint32_t value);
int pcre2_set_character_tables(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
const uint8_t *tables);
int pcre2_set_compile_extra_options(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t options);
int pcre2_set_max_pattern_length(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
PCRE2_SIZE length);
int pcre2_set_max_pattern_compiled_length(
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, PCRE2_SIZE length);
int pcre2_set_max_varlookbehind(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t limit);
int pcre2_set_newline(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t newline);
int pcre2_set_parens_nest_limit(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t limit);
int pcre2_set_compile_recursion_guard(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
int (*guard)(uint32_t depth,
void *user_data),
void *user_data);
int pcre2_set_optimize(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t directive);
----
== PCRE2 native API match context functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_match_context *pcre2_match_context_create(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_match_context *pcre2_match_context_copy(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
void pcre2_match_context_free(pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
int pcre2_get_heap_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_match_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_depth_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_offset_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE *limit);
int pcre2_set_callout(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
int (*callout)(
pcre2_callout_block *callout_block,
void *callout_data),
void *callout_data);
int pcre2_set_substitute_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
int (*substitute_callout)(
pcre2_substitute_callout_block *callout_block,
void *substitute_callout_data),
void *substitute_callout_data);
int pcre2_set_substitute_case_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE (*substitute_case_callout)(
PCRE2_SPTR input, PCRE2_SIZE input_length,
PCRE2_UCHAR *output, PCRE2_SIZE output_capacity,
int case_operation, void *substitute_case_callout_data),
void *substitute_case_callout_data);
int pcre2_set_offset_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE limit);
int pcre2_set_heap_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
int pcre2_set_match_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
int pcre2_set_depth_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
== PCRE2 native API string extraction functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substring_copy_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
void pcre2_substring_free(PCRE2_UCHAR *string);
int pcre2_substring_get_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_UCHAR **stringptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_get_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_UCHAR **stringptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_length_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_length_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_nametable_scan(const pcre2_code *code,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_SPTR *firstptr,
PCRE2_SPTR *lastptr);
int pcre2_substring_number_from_name(const pcre2_code *code,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname);
void pcre2_substring_list_free(PCRE2_UCHAR **list);
int pcre2_substring_list_get(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_UCHAR ***listptr,
PCRE2_SIZE **lengthsptr);
----
== PCRE2 native API string substitution function
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substitute(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SPTR replacement, PCRE2_SIZE rlength,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer, PCRE2_SIZE *blength);
----
== PCRE2 native API JIT functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_jit_compile(pcre2_code *code, uint32_t options);
int pcre2_jit_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
void pcre2_jit_free_unused_memory(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_jit_stack *pcre2_jit_stack_create(
size_t startsize, size_t maxsize,
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_jit_stack_assign(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
pcre2_jit_callback callback,
void *callback_data);
void pcre2_jit_stack_free(pcre2_jit_stack *jit_stack);
----
== PCRE2 native API serialization functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int32_t pcre2_serialize_decode(pcre2_code **codes,
int32_t number_of_codes,
const uint8_t *bytes,
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
int32_t pcre2_serialize_encode(const pcre2_code **codes,
int32_t number_of_codes,
uint8_t **serialized_bytes,
PCRE2_SIZE *serialized_size,
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_serialize_free(uint8_t *bytes);
int32_t pcre2_serialize_get_number_of_codes(const uint8_t *bytes);
----
== PCRE2 native API auxiliary functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_code *pcre2_code_copy(const pcre2_code *code);
pcre2_code *pcre2_code_copy_with_tables(const pcre2_code *code);
int pcre2_get_error_message(int errorcode, PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE bufflen);
const uint8_t *pcre2_maketables(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_maketables_free(pcre2_general_context *gcontext,
const uint8_t *tables);
int pcre2_pattern_info(const pcre2_code *code, uint32_t what,
void *where);
int pcre2_callout_enumerate(
const pcre2_code *code,
int (*callback)(pcre2_callout_enumerate_block *callout_block,
void *callout_data),
void *callout_data);
int pcre2_config(uint32_t what, void *where);
----
== PCRE2 native API obsolete functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_recursion_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
int pcre2_set_recursion_memory_management(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
void *(*mymalloc)(size_t size, void *mydata),
void (*myfree)(void *ptr, void *mydata),
void *mydata);
----
These functions became obsolete at release 10.30 and are retained only for
backward compatibility. They should not be used in new code. The first is
replaced by func:pcre2_set_depth_limit(); the second is no longer needed and
has no effect (it always returns zero).
== PCRE2 experimental pattern conversion functions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_convert_context *pcre2_convert_context_create(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_convert_context *pcre2_convert_context_copy(
pcre2_convert_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_convert_context_free(pcre2_convert_context *ccontext);
int pcre2_set_glob_escape(pcre2_convert_context *ccontext,
uint32_t escape_char);
int pcre2_set_glob_separator(pcre2_convert_context *ccontext,
uint32_t separator_char);
int pcre2_pattern_convert(PCRE2_SPTR pattern, PCRE2_SIZE plength,
uint32_t options, PCRE2_UCHAR **buffptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *bufflenptr,
pcre2_convert_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_converted_pattern_free(PCRE2_UCHAR *converted);
----
These functions provide a way of converting non-PCRE2 patterns into
patterns that can be processed by func:pcre2_compile(). This facility is
experimental and may be changed in future releases. At present, "globs" and
POSIX basic and extended patterns can be converted. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2convert.adoc[`pcre2convert`]
documentation.
== PCRE2 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit libraries
There are three PCRE2 libraries, supporting 8-bit, 16-bit, and 32-bit code
units, respectively. However, there is just one header file, `pcre2.h`.
This contains the function prototypes and other definitions for all three
libraries. One, two, or all three can be installed simultaneously. On Unix-like
systems the libraries are called `libpcre2-8`, `libpcre2-16`, and
`libpcre2-32`, and they can also co-exist with the original PCRE libraries.
Every PCRE2 function comes in three different forms, one for each library, for
example:
[literal,subs=normal]
....
`pcre2_compile_8()`
`pcre2_compile_16()`
`pcre2_compile_32()`
....
There are also three different sets of data types:
[literal,subs=normal]
....
`PCRE2_UCHAR8, PCRE2_UCHAR16, PCRE2_UCHAR32`
`PCRE2_SPTR8, PCRE2_SPTR16, PCRE2_SPTR32`
....
The UCHAR types define unsigned code units of the appropriate widths.
For example, type:PCRE2_UCHAR16 is usually defined as [.c]`uint16_t`.
The SPTR types are pointers to constants of the equivalent UCHAR types,
that is, they are pointers to vectors of unsigned code units.
Character strings are passed to a PCRE2 library as sequences of unsigned
integers in code units of the appropriate width. The length of a string may
be given as a number of code units, or the string may be specified as
zero-terminated.
Many applications use only one code unit width. For their convenience, macros
are defined whose names are the generic forms such as func:pcre2_compile() and
type:PCRE2_SPTR. These macros use the value of the macro const:PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH to
generate the appropriate width-specific function and macro names.
const:PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH is not defined by default. An application must define it
to be 8, 16, or 32 before including `pcre2.h` in order to make use of the
generic names.
Applications that use more than one code unit width can be linked with more
than one PCRE2 library, but must define const:PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH to be 0 before
including `pcre2.h`, and then use the real function names. Any code that is
to be included in an environment where the value of const:PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH is
unknown should also use the real function names. (Unfortunately, it is not
possible in C code to save and restore the value of a macro.)
If const:PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH is not defined before including `pcre2.h`, a
compiler error occurs.
When using multiple libraries in an application, you must take care when
processing any particular pattern to use only functions from a single library.
For example, if you want to run a match using a pattern that was compiled with
func:pcre2_compile_16(), you must do so with func:pcre2_match_16(), not
func:pcre2_match_8() or func:pcre2_match_32().
In the function summaries above, and in the rest of this document and other
PCRE2 documents, functions and data types are described using their generic
names, without the _8, _16, or _32 suffix.
== PCRE2 API overview
PCRE2 has its own native API, which is described in this document. There are
also some wrapper functions for the 8-bit library that correspond to the
POSIX regular expression API, but they do not give access to all the
functionality of PCRE2 and they are not thread-safe. They are described in the
xref:pcre2posix.adoc[`pcre2posix`]
documentation. Both these APIs define a set of C function calls.
The native API C data types, function prototypes, option values, and error
codes are defined in the header file `pcre2.h`, which also contains
definitions of const:PCRE2_MAJOR and const:PCRE2_MINOR, the major and minor release numbers
for the library. Applications can use these to include support for different
releases of PCRE2.
In a Windows environment, if you want to statically link an application program
against a non-dll PCRE2 library, you must define const:PCRE2_STATIC before including
`pcre2.h`.
The functions func:pcre2_compile() and func:pcre2_match() are used for
compiling and matching regular expressions in a Perl-compatible manner. A
sample program that demonstrates the simplest way of using them is provided in
the file called _pcre2demo.c_ in the PCRE2 source distribution. A listing
of this program is given in the
xref:pcre2demo.adoc[`pcre2demo`]
documentation, and the
xref:pcre2sample.adoc[`pcre2sample`]
documentation describes how to compile and run it.
The compiling and matching functions recognize various options that are passed
as bits in an options argument. There are also some more complicated parameters
such as custom memory management functions and resource limits that are passed
in "contexts" (which are just memory blocks, described below). Simple
applications do not need to make use of contexts.
Just-in-time (JIT) compiler support is an optional feature of PCRE2 that can be
built in appropriate hardware environments. It greatly speeds up the matching
performance of many patterns. Programs can request that it be used if
available by calling func:pcre2_jit_compile() after a pattern has been
successfully compiled by func:pcre2_compile(). This does nothing if JIT
support is not available.
More complicated programs might need to make use of the specialist functions
func:pcre2_jit_stack_create(), func:pcre2_jit_stack_free(), and
func:pcre2_jit_stack_assign() in order to control the JIT code's memory usage.
JIT matching is automatically used by func:pcre2_match() if it is available,
unless the const:PCRE2_NO_JIT option is set. There is also a direct interface for JIT
matching, which gives improved performance at the expense of less sanity
checking. The JIT-specific functions are discussed in the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation.
A second matching function, func:pcre2_dfa_match(), which is not
Perl-compatible, is also provided. This uses a different algorithm for the
matching. The alternative algorithm finds all possible matches (at a given
point in the subject), and scans the subject just once (unless there are
lookaround assertions). However, this algorithm does not return captured
substrings. A description of the two matching algorithms and their advantages
and disadvantages is given in the
xref:pcre2matching.adoc[`pcre2matching`]
documentation. There is no JIT support for func:pcre2_dfa_match().
In addition to the main compiling and matching functions, there are convenience
functions for extracting captured substrings from a subject string that has
been matched by func:pcre2_match(). They are:
[literal,subs=normal]
....
`pcre2_substring_copy_byname()`
`pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber()`
`pcre2_substring_get_byname()`
`pcre2_substring_get_bynumber()`
`pcre2_substring_list_get()`
`pcre2_substring_length_byname()`
`pcre2_substring_length_bynumber()`
`pcre2_substring_nametable_scan()`
`pcre2_substring_number_from_name()`
....
func:pcre2_substring_free() and func:pcre2_substring_list_free() are also
provided, to free memory used for extracted strings. If either of these
functions is called with a NULL argument, the function returns immediately
without doing anything.
The function func:pcre2_substitute() can be called to match a pattern and
return a copy of the subject string with substitutions for parts that were
matched.
Functions whose names begin with `pcre2_serialize_` are used for saving
compiled patterns on disc or elsewhere, and reloading them later.
Finally, there are functions for finding out information about a compiled
pattern (func:pcre2_pattern_info()) and about the configuration with which
PCRE2 was built (func:pcre2_config()) and that it is using.
Functions with names ending with `_free()` are used for freeing memory
blocks of various sorts. In all cases, if one of these functions is called with
a NULL argument, it does nothing.
== String lengths and offsets
The PCRE2 API uses string lengths and offsets into strings of code units in
several places. These values are always of type type:PCRE2_SIZE, which is an
unsigned integer type, currently always defined as _size_t_. The largest
value that can be stored in such a type (that is [.c]`~(PCRE2_SIZE)0`) is reserved
as a special indicator for zero-terminated strings and unset offsets.
Therefore, the longest string that can be handled is one less than this
maximum. Note that string lengths are always given in code units. Only in the
8-bit library is such a length the same as the number of bytes in the string.
== Newlines
PCRE2 supports five different conventions for indicating line breaks in
strings: a single CR (carriage return) character, a single LF (linefeed)
character, the two-character sequence CRLF, any of the three preceding, or any
Unicode newline sequence. The Unicode newline sequences are the three just
mentioned, plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, `U+000B`), FF (form feed,
`U+000C`), NEL (next line, `U+0085`), LS (line separator, `U+2028`), and PS
(paragraph separator, `U+2029`).
Each of the first three conventions is used by at least one operating system as
its standard newline sequence. When PCRE2 is built, a default can be specified.
If it is not, the default is set to LF, which is the Unix standard. However,
the newline convention can be changed by an application when calling
func:pcre2_compile(), or it can be specified by special text at the start of
the pattern itself; this overrides any other settings. See the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page for details of the special character sequences.
In the PCRE2 documentation the word "newline" is used to mean "the character or
pair of characters that indicate a line break". The choice of newline
convention affects the handling of the dot, circumflex, and dollar
metacharacters, the handling of [.regex]`#`-comments in [.regex]`/x` mode, and, when CRLF is a
recognized line ending sequence, the match position advancement for a
non-anchored pattern. There is more detail about this in the
section on func:pcre2_match() options
below.
The choice of newline convention does not affect the interpretation of
the [.regex]`\n` or [.regex]`\r` escape sequences, nor does it affect what [.regex]`\R` matches; this has
its own separate convention.
== Multithreading
In a multithreaded application it is important to keep thread-specific data
separate from data that can be shared between threads. The PCRE2 library code
itself is thread-safe: it contains no static or global variables. The API is
designed to be fairly simple for non-threaded applications while at the same
time ensuring that multithreaded applications can use it.
There are several different blocks of data that are used to pass information
between the application and the PCRE2 libraries.
=== The compiled pattern
A pointer to the compiled form of a pattern is returned to the user when
func:pcre2_compile() is successful. The data in the compiled pattern is fixed,
and does not change when the pattern is matched. Therefore, it is thread-safe,
that is, the same compiled pattern can be used by more than one thread
simultaneously. For example, an application can compile all its patterns at the
start, before forking off multiple threads that use them. However, if the
just-in-time (JIT) optimization feature is being used, it needs separate memory
stack areas for each thread. See the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation for more details.
In a more complicated situation, where patterns are compiled only when they are
first needed, but are still shared between threads, pointers to compiled
patterns must be protected from simultaneous writing by multiple threads. This
is somewhat tricky to do correctly. If you know that writing to a pointer is
atomic in your environment, you can use logic like this:
[source,text,role=pseudocode]
....
Get a read-only (shared) lock (mutex) for pointer
if (pointer == NULL)
{
Get a write (unique) lock for pointer
if (pointer == NULL) pointer = pcre2_compile(...
}
Release the lock
Use pointer in pcre2_match()
....
Of course, testing for compilation errors should also be included in the code.
The reason for checking the pointer a second time is as follows: Several
threads may have acquired the shared lock and tested the pointer for being
[.c]`NULL`, but only one of them will be given the write lock, with the rest kept
waiting. The winning thread will compile the pattern and store the result.
After this thread releases the write lock, another thread will get it, and if
it does not retest pointer for being NULL, will recompile the pattern and
overwrite the pointer, creating a memory leak and possibly causing other
issues.
In an environment where writing to a pointer may not be atomic, the above logic
is not sufficient. The thread that is doing the compiling may be descheduled
after writing only part of the pointer, which could cause other threads to use
an invalid value. Instead of checking the pointer itself, a separate "pointer
is valid" flag (that can be updated atomically) must be used:
[source,text,role=pseudocode]
....
Get a read-only (shared) lock (mutex) for pointer
if (!pointer_is_valid)
{
Get a write (unique) lock for pointer
if (!pointer_is_valid)
{
pointer = pcre2_compile(...
pointer_is_valid = TRUE
}
}
Release the lock
Use pointer in pcre2_match()
....
If JIT is being used, but the JIT compilation is not being done immediately
(perhaps waiting to see if the pattern is used often enough), similar logic is
required. JIT compilation updates a value within the compiled code block, so a
thread must gain unique write access to the pointer before calling
func:pcre2_jit_compile(). Alternatively, func:pcre2_code_copy() or
func:pcre2_code_copy_with_tables() can be used to obtain a private copy of the
compiled code before calling the JIT compiler.
=== Context blocks
The next main section below introduces the idea of "contexts" in which PCRE2
functions are called. A context is nothing more than a collection of parameters
that control the way PCRE2 operates. Grouping a number of parameters together
in a context is a convenient way of passing them to a PCRE2 function without
using lots of arguments. The parameters that are stored in contexts are in some
sense "advanced features" of the API. Many straightforward applications will
not need to use contexts.
In a multithreaded application, if the parameters in a context are values that
are never changed, the same context can be used by all the threads. However, if
any thread needs to change any value in a context, it must make its own
thread-specific copy.
=== Match blocks
The matching functions need a block of memory for storing the results of a
match. This includes details of what was matched, as well as additional
information such as the name of a ([.regex]`*MARK`) setting. Each thread must provide its
own copy of this memory.
== PCRE2 contexts
Some PCRE2 functions have a lot of parameters, many of which are used only by
specialist applications, for example, those that use custom memory management
or non-standard character tables. To keep function argument lists at a
reasonable size, and at the same time to keep the API extensible, "uncommon"
parameters are passed to certain functions in a `context` instead of
directly. A context is just a block of memory that holds the parameter values.
Applications that do not need to adjust any of the context parameters can pass
`NULL` when a context pointer is required.
There are three different types of context: a general context that is relevant
for several PCRE2 operations, a compile-time context, and a match-time context.
=== The general context
At present, this context just contains pointers to (and data for) external
memory management functions that are called from several places in the PCRE2
library. The context is named `general' rather than specifically `memory'
because in future other fields may be added. If you do not want to supply your
own custom memory management functions, you do not need to bother with a
general context. A general context is created by:
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_general_context *pcre2_general_context_create(
void *(*private_malloc)(size_t size, void *memory_data),
void (*private_free)(void *ptr, void *memory_data),
void *memory_data);
----
The two function pointers specify custom memory management functions, whose
prototypes are:
[literal,subs=normal]
....
[.c]`void *private_malloc(PCRE2_SIZE, void *);`
[.c]`void private_free(void *, void *);`
....
Whenever code in PCRE2 calls these functions, the final argument is the value
of arg:memory_data. Either of the first two arguments of the creation
function may be `NULL`, in which case the system memory management functions
[.c]`malloc()` and [.c]`free()` are used. (This is not currently useful, as
there are no other fields in a general context, but in future there might be.)
The [.c]`private_malloc()` function is used (if supplied) to obtain memory for
storing the context, and all three values are saved as part of the context.
Whenever PCRE2 creates a data block of any kind, the block contains a pointer
to the [.c]`free()` function that matches the [.c]`malloc()` function that was
used. When the time comes to free the block, this function is called.
A general context can be copied by calling:
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_general_context *pcre2_general_context_copy(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
----
The memory used for a general context should be freed by calling:
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
void pcre2_general_context_free(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
----
If this function is passed a `NULL` argument, it returns immediately without
doing anything.
=== The compile context
A compile context is required if you want to provide an external function for
stack checking during compilation or to change the default values of any of the
following compile-time parameters:
* What [.regex]`\R` matches (Unicode newlines or CR, LF, CRLF only)
* PCRE2's character tables
* The newline character sequence
* The compile time nested parentheses limit
* The maximum length of the pattern string
* The extra options bits (none set by default)
* Which performance optimizations the compiler should apply
A compile context is also required if you are using custom memory management.
If none of these apply, just pass `NULL` as the context argument of
func:pcre2_compile().
A compile context is created, copied, and freed by the following functions:
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_compile_context *pcre2_compile_context_create(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_compile_context *pcre2_compile_context_copy(
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_compile_context_free(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
----
A compile context is created with default values for its parameters. These can
be changed by calling the following functions, which return `0` on success, or
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADDATA if invalid data is detected.
The following functions get, respectively, the convention for processing \R,
the maximum pattern length, the newline convention, and the maximum depth of
nested parentheses. They return `0` on success or const:PCRE2_ERROR_NULL if either
argument is `NULL`.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_get_bsr(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, uint32_t *length);
int pcre2_get_max_pattern_length(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
PCRE2_SIZE *length);
int pcre2_get_newline(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t *newline);
int pcre2_get_parens_nest_limit(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t *limit);
----
The value returned by func:pcre2_get_max_pattern_length() is the largest
value a type:PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold when the limit is unlimited. Passing this
value to func:pcre2_set_max_pattern_length() makes the limit unlimited.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_bsr(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, uint32_t value);
----
The value must be const:PCRE2_BSR_ANYCRLF, to specify that [.regex]`\R` matches only `CR`, `LF`,
or `CRLF`, or const:PCRE2_BSR_UNICODE, to specify that [.regex]`\R` matches any Unicode line
ending sequence. The value is used by the JIT compiler and by the two
interpreted matching functions, func:pcre2_match() and
func:pcre2_dfa_match().
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_character_tables(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
const uint8_t *tables);
----
The value must be the result of a call to func:pcre2_maketables(), whose only
argument is a general context. This function builds a set of character tables
in the current locale.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_compile_extra_options(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t options);
----
As PCRE2 has developed, almost all the 32 option bits that are available in
the arg:options argument of func:pcre2_compile() have been used up. To avoid
running out, the compile context contains a set of extra option bits which are
used for some newer, assumed rarer, options. This function sets those bits. It
always sets all the bits (either on or off). It does not modify any existing
setting. The available options are defined in the section entitled "Extra
compile options"
below.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_max_pattern_length(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
PCRE2_SIZE length);
----
This sets a maximum length, in code units, for any pattern string that is
compiled with this context. If the pattern is longer, an error is generated.
This facility is provided so that applications that accept patterns from
external sources can limit their size. The default is the largest number that a
type:PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold, which is effectively unlimited.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_max_pattern_compiled_length(
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext, PCRE2_SIZE length);
----
This sets a maximum size, in bytes, for the memory needed to hold the compiled
version of a pattern that is compiled with this context. If the pattern needs
more memory, an error is generated. This facility is provided so that
applications that accept patterns from external sources can limit the amount of
memory they use. The default is the largest number that a type:PCRE2_SIZE variable
can hold, which is effectively unlimited.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_max_varlookbehind(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
This sets a maximum length for the number of characters matched by a
variable-length lookbehind assertion. The default is set when PCRE2 is built,
with the ultimate default being 255, the same as Perl. Lookbehind assertions
without a bounding length are not supported.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_newline(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t newline);
----
This specifies which characters or character sequences are to be recognized as
newlines. The value must be one of const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_CR (carriage return only),
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_LF (linefeed only), const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_CRLF (the two-character
sequence `CR` followed by `LF`), const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF (any of the above),
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANY (any Unicode newline sequence), or const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_NUL (the
`NUL` character, that is a binary zero).
A pattern can override the value set in the compile context by starting with a
sequence such as [.regex]`(*CRLF)`. See the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page for details.
When a pattern is compiled with the const:PCRE2_EXTENDED or const:PCRE2_EXTENDED_MORE
option, the newline convention affects the recognition of the end of internal
comments starting with [.regex]`#`. The value is saved with the compiled pattern for
subsequent use by the JIT compiler and by the two interpreted matching
functions, func:pcre2_match() and func:pcre2_dfa_match().
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_parens_nest_limit(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
This parameter adjusts the limit, set when PCRE2 is built (default 250), on the
depth of parenthesis nesting in a pattern. This limit stops rogue patterns
using up too much system stack when being compiled. The limit applies to
parentheses of all kinds, not just capturing parentheses.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_compile_recursion_guard(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
int (*guard)(uint32_t depth,
void *user_data),
void *user_data);
----
There is at least one application that runs PCRE2 in threads with very limited
system stack, where running out of stack is to be avoided at all costs. The
parenthesis limit above cannot take account of how much stack is actually
available during compilation. For a finer control, you can supply a function
that is called whenever func:pcre2_compile() starts to compile a parenthesized
part of a pattern. This function can check the actual stack size (or anything
else that it wants to, of course).
The first argument to the callout function gives the current depth of
nesting, and the second is user data that is set up by the last argument of
func:pcre2_set_compile_recursion_guard(). The callout function should return
zero if all is well, or non-zero to force an error.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_optimize(pcre2_compile_context *ccontext,
uint32_t directive);
----
PCRE2 can apply various performance optimizations during compilation, in order
to make matching faster. For example, the compiler might convert some regex
constructs into an equivalent construct which func:pcre2_match() can execute
faster. By default, all available optimizations are enabled. However, in rare
cases, one might wish to disable specific optimizations. For example, if it is
known that some optimizations cannot benefit a certain regex, it might be
desirable to disable them, in order to speed up compilation.
The permitted values of arg:directive are as follows:
[literal]
....
PCRE2_OPTIMIZATION_FULL
....
Enable all optional performance optimizations. This is the default value.
[literal]
....
PCRE2_OPTIMIZATION_NONE
....
Disable all optional performance optimizations.
[literal]
....
PCRE2_AUTO_POSSESS
PCRE2_AUTO_POSSESS_OFF
....
Enable/disable "auto-possessification" of variable quantifiers such as [.regex]`*` and [.regex]`+`.
This optimization, for example, turns [.regex]`a+b` into
[.regex]`a&#43;&#43;b` in order to avoid
backtracks into [.regex]`a&#43;&#43;` that can never be successful. However, if callouts are in
use, auto-possessification means that some callouts are never taken. You can
disable this optimization if you want the matching functions to do a full,
unoptimized search and run all the callouts.
[literal]
....
PCRE2_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR
PCRE2_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR_OFF
....
Enable/disable an optimization that is applied when [.regex]`.*` is the first significant
item in a top-level branch of a pattern, and all the other branches also start
with [.regex]`.*` or with \A or \G or ^. Such a pattern is automatically anchored if
const:PCRE2_DOTALL is set for all the [.regex]`.*` items and const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is not set for any
^ items. Otherwise, the fact that any match must start either at the start of
the subject or following a newline is remembered. Like other optimizations,
this can cause callouts to be skipped.
Dotstar anchor optimization is automatically disabled for [.regex]`.*` if it is inside an
atomic group or a capture group that is the subject of a backreference, or if
the pattern contains [.regex]`(*PRUNE)` or [.regex]`(*SKIP)`.
[literal]
....
PCRE2_START_OPTIMIZE
PCRE2_START_OPTIMIZE_OFF
....
Enable/disable optimizations which cause matching functions to scan the subject
string for specific code unit values before attempting a match. For example, if
it is known that an unanchored match must start with a specific value, the
matching code searches the subject for that value, and fails immediately if it
cannot find it, without actually running the main matching function. This means
that a special item such as [.regex]`(*COMMIT)` at the start of a pattern is not
considered until after a suitable starting point for the match has been found.
Also, when callouts or [.regex]`(*MARK)` items are in use, these "start-up" optimizations
can cause them to be skipped if the pattern is never actually used. The start-up
optimizations are in effect a pre-scan of the subject that takes place before
the pattern is run.
Disabling start-up optimizations ensures that in cases where the result is "no
match", the callouts do occur, and that items such as [.regex]`(*COMMIT)` and [.regex]`(*MARK)` are
considered at every possible starting position in the subject string.
Disabling start-up optimizations may change the outcome of a matching operation.
Consider the pattern
[literal]
....
(*COMMIT)ABC
....
When this is compiled, PCRE2 records the fact that a match must start with the
character "A". Suppose the subject string is "DEFABC". The start-up
optimization scans along the subject, finds "A" and runs the first match
attempt from there. The [.regex]`(*COMMIT)` item means that the pattern must match the
current starting position, which in this case, it does. However, if the same
match is run without start-up optimizations, the initial scan along the subject
string does not happen. The first match attempt is run starting from "D" and
when this fails, [.regex]`(*COMMIT)` prevents any further matches being tried, so the
overall result is "no match".
Another start-up optimization makes use of a minimum length for a matching
subject, which is recorded when possible. Consider the pattern
[literal]
....
(*MARK:1)B(*MARK:2)(X|Y)
....
The minimum length for a match is two characters. If the subject is "XXBB", the
"starting character" optimization skips "XX", then tries to match "BB", which
is long enough. In the process, [.regex]`(*MARK:2)` is encountered and remembered. When
the match attempt fails, the next "B" is found, but there is only one character
left, so there are no more attempts, and "no match" is returned with the "last
mark seen" set to "2". Without start-up optimizations, however, matches are
tried at every possible starting position, including at the end of the subject,
where [.regex]`(*MARK:1)` is encountered, but there is no "B", so the "last mark seen"
that is returned is "1". In this case, the optimizations do not affect the
overall match result, which is still "no match", but they do affect the
auxiliary information that is returned.
=== The match context
A match context is required if you want to:
[literal]
....
Set up a callout function
Set an offset limit for matching an unanchored pattern
Change the limit on the amount of heap used when matching
Change the backtracking match limit
Change the backtracking depth limit
Set custom memory management specifically for the match
....
If none of these apply, just pass [.c]`NULL` as the context argument of
func:pcre2_match(), func:pcre2_dfa_match(), or func:pcre2_jit_match().
A match context is created, copied, and freed by the following functions:
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_match_context *pcre2_match_context_create(
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_match_context *pcre2_match_context_copy(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
void pcre2_match_context_free(pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
----
A match context is created with default values for its parameters. These can
be changed by calling the following functions, which return 0 on success, or
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADDATA if invalid data is detected.
The following functions get, respectively, the backtracking heap limit, match
limit, depth limit, and offset limit. They return 0 on success or
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NULL if either argument is [.c]`NULL`.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_get_heap_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_match_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_depth_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t *limit);
int pcre2_get_offset_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE *limit);
----
The value returned by func:pcre2_get_offset_limit() is the largest value a
type:PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold when there is no offset limit. Passing this value
to func:pcre2_set_offset_limit() removes the offset limit.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_callout(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
int (*callout)(
pcre2_callout_block *callout_block,
void *callout_data),
void *callout_data);
----
This sets up a callout function for PCRE2 to call at specified points
during a matching operation. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2callout.adoc[`pcre2callout`]
documentation.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_substitute_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
int (*substitute_callout)(
pcre2_substitute_callout_block *callout_block,
void *substitute_callout_data),
void *substitute_callout_data);
----
This sets up a callout function for PCRE2 to call after each substitution
made by func:pcre2_substitute(). Details are given in the section entitled
"Creating a new string with substitutions"
below.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_substitute_case_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE (*substitute_case_callout)(
PCRE2_SPTR input, PCRE2_SIZE input_length,
PCRE2_UCHAR *output, PCRE2_SIZE output_capacity,
int case_operation, void *substitute_case_callout_data),
void *substitute_case_callout_data);
----
This sets up a callout function for PCRE2 to call when performing case
transformations inside func:pcre2_substitute(). Details are given in the
section entitled "Creating a new string with substitutions"
below.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_offset_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE limit);
----
The arg:offset_limit parameter limits how far an unanchored search can
advance in the subject string. The default value is const:PCRE2_UNSET. The
func:pcre2_match() and func:pcre2_dfa_match() functions return
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH if a match with a starting point before or at the given
offset is not found. The func:pcre2_substitute() function makes no more
substitutions.
For example, if the pattern [.regex]`/abc/` is matched against "123abc" with an offset
limit less than 3, the result is const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH. A match can never be
found if the arg:start_offset argument of func:pcre2_match(),
func:pcre2_dfa_match(), or func:pcre2_substitute() is greater than the offset
limit set in the match context.
When using this facility, you must set the const:PCRE2_USE_OFFSET_LIMIT option when
calling func:pcre2_compile() so that when JIT is in use, different code can be
compiled. If a match is started with a non-default match limit when
const:PCRE2_USE_OFFSET_LIMIT is not set, an error is generated.
The offset limit facility can be used to track progress when searching large
subject strings or to limit the extent of global substitutions. See also the
const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE option, which requires a match to start before or at the first
newline that follows the start of matching in the subject. If this is set with
an offset limit, a match must occur in the first line and also within the
offset limit. In other words, whichever limit comes first is used.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_heap_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
The arg:heap_limit parameter specifies, in units of kibibytes (1024 bytes),
the maximum amount of heap memory that func:pcre2_match() may use to hold
backtracking information when running an interpretive match. This limit also
applies to func:pcre2_dfa_match(), which may use the heap when processing
patterns with a lot of nested pattern recursion or lookarounds or atomic
groups. This limit does not apply to matching with the JIT optimization, which
has its own memory control arrangements (see the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation for more details). If the limit is reached, the negative error
code const:PCRE2_ERROR_HEAPLIMIT is returned. The default limit can be set when PCRE2
is built; if it is not, the default is set very large and is essentially
unlimited.
A value for the heap limit may also be supplied by an item at the start of a
pattern of the form
[source,regex]
....
(*LIMIT_HEAP=ddd)
....
where ddd is a decimal number. However, such a setting is ignored unless ddd is
less than the limit set by the caller of func:pcre2_match() or, if no such
limit is set, less than the default.
The func:pcre2_match() function always needs some heap memory, so setting a
value of zero guarantees a "heap limit exceeded" error. Details of how
func:pcre2_match() uses the heap are given in the
xref:pcre2perform.adoc[`pcre2perform`]
documentation.
For func:pcre2_dfa_match(), a vector on the system stack is used when
processing pattern recursions, lookarounds, or atomic groups, and only if this
is not big enough is heap memory used. In this case, setting a value of zero
disables the use of the heap.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_match_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
The arg:match_limit parameter provides a means of preventing PCRE2 from using
up too many computing resources when processing patterns that are not going to
match, but which have a very large number of possibilities in their search
trees. The classic example is a pattern that uses nested unlimited repeats.
There is an internal counter in func:pcre2_match() that is incremented each
time round its main matching loop. If this value reaches the match limit,
func:pcre2_match() returns the negative value const:PCRE2_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT. This has
the effect of limiting the amount of backtracking that can take place. For
patterns that are not anchored, the count restarts from zero for each position
in the subject string. This limit also applies to func:pcre2_dfa_match(),
though the counting is done in a different way.
When func:pcre2_match() is called with a pattern that was successfully
processed by func:pcre2_jit_compile(), the way in which matching is executed
is entirely different. However, there is still the possibility of runaway
matching that goes on for a very long time, and so the arg:match_limit value
is also used in this case (but in a different way) to limit how long the
matching can continue.
The default value for the limit can be set when PCRE2 is built; the default is
10 million, which handles all but the most extreme cases. A value for the match
limit may also be supplied by an item at the start of a pattern of the form
[source,regex]
....
(*LIMIT_MATCH=ddd)
....
where ddd is a decimal number. However, such a setting is ignored unless ddd is
less than the limit set by the caller of func:pcre2_match() or
func:pcre2_dfa_match() or, if no such limit is set, less than the default.
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_depth_limit(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
uint32_t limit);
----
This parameter limits the depth of nested backtracking in func:pcre2_match().
Each time a nested backtracking point is passed, a new memory frame is used
to remember the state of matching at that point. Thus, this parameter
indirectly limits the amount of memory that is used in a match. However,
because the size of each memory frame depends on the number of capturing
parentheses, the actual memory limit varies from pattern to pattern. This limit
was more useful in versions before 10.30, where function recursion was used for
backtracking.
The depth limit is not relevant, and is ignored, when matching is done using
JIT compiled code. However, it is supported by func:pcre2_dfa_match(), which
uses it to limit the depth of nested internal recursive function calls that
implement atomic groups, lookaround assertions, and pattern recursions. This
limits, indirectly, the amount of system stack that is used. It was more useful
in versions before 10.32, when stack memory was used for local workspace
vectors for recursive function calls. From version 10.32, only local variables
are allocated on the stack and as each call uses only a few hundred bytes, even
a small stack can support quite a lot of recursion.
If the depth of internal recursive function calls is great enough, local
workspace vectors are allocated on the heap from version 10.32 onwards, so the
depth limit also indirectly limits the amount of heap memory that is used. A
recursive pattern such as [.regex]`/(.(?2))((?1)|)/`, when matched to a very long string
using func:pcre2_dfa_match(), can use a great deal of memory. However, it is
probably better to limit heap usage directly by calling
func:pcre2_set_heap_limit().
The default value for the depth limit can be set when PCRE2 is built; if it is
not, the default is set to the same value as the default for the match limit.
If the limit is exceeded, func:pcre2_match() or func:pcre2_dfa_match()
returns const:PCRE2_ERROR_DEPTHLIMIT. A value for the depth limit may also be
supplied by an item at the start of a pattern of the form
[source,regex]
....
(*LIMIT_DEPTH=ddd)
....
where ddd is a decimal number. However, such a setting is ignored unless ddd is
less than the limit set by the caller of func:pcre2_match() or
func:pcre2_dfa_match() or, if no such limit is set, less than the default.
== Checking build-time options
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_config(uint32_t what, void *where);
----
The function func:pcre2_config() makes it possible for a PCRE2 client to find
the value of certain configuration parameters and to discover which optional
features have been compiled into the PCRE2 library. The
xref:pcre2build.adoc[`pcre2build`]
documentation has more details about these features.
The first argument for func:pcre2_config() specifies which information is
required. The second argument is a pointer to memory into which the information
is placed. If NULL is passed, the function returns the amount of memory that is
needed for the requested information. For calls that return numerical values,
the value is in bytes; when requesting these values, _where_ should point
to appropriately aligned memory. For calls that return strings, the required
length is given in code units, not counting the terminating zero.
When requesting information, the returned value from func:pcre2_config() is
non-negative on success, or the negative error code const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOPTION if
the value in the first argument is not recognized. The following information is
available:
.Options
[.options]
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_BSR::
The output is a uint32_t integer whose value indicates what character
sequences the \R escape sequence matches by default. A value of
const:PCRE2_BSR_UNICODE means that \R matches any Unicode line ending sequence; a
value of const:PCRE2_BSR_ANYCRLF means that \R matches only CR, LF, or CRLF. The
default can be overridden when a pattern is compiled.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_COMPILED_WIDTHS::
The output is a uint32_t integer whose lower bits indicate which code unit
widths were selected when PCRE2 was built. The 1-bit indicates 8-bit support,
and the 2-bit and 4-bit indicate 16-bit and 32-bit support, respectively.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_DEPTHLIMIT::
The output is a uint32_t integer that gives the default limit for the depth of
nested backtracking in func:pcre2_match() or the depth of nested recursions,
lookarounds, and atomic groups in func:pcre2_dfa_match(). Further details are
given with func:pcre2_set_depth_limit() above.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_EFFECTIVE_LINKSIZE::
The output is a uint32_t integer that contains the number of bytes the library
uses for internal linkage in compiled regular expressions. Its value is derived
from the value that was provided at build time and that is described below by
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_LINKSIZE.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_HEAPLIMIT::
The output is a uint32_t integer that gives, in kibibytes, the default limit
for the amount of heap memory used by func:pcre2_match() or
func:pcre2_dfa_match(). Further details are given with
func:pcre2_set_heap_limit() above.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_JIT::
The output is a uint32_t integer that is set to one if support for just-in-time
compiling is included in the library; otherwise it is set to zero. Note that
having the support in the library does not guarantee that JIT will be used for
any given match, and neither does it guarantee that JIT will actually be able
to function, because it may not be able to allocate executable memory in some
environments. There is a special call to func:pcre2_jit_compile() that can be
used to check this. See the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation for more details.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_JITTARGET::
The _where_ argument should point to a code-unit-aligned buffer. All
previous versions of PCRE2 have required no more than 128 code units of buffer
capacity. However, this requirement is not guaranteed to be maintained, so
applications should call func:pcre2_config() with `where` set to NULL to
receive the required buffer size, then assert or allocate a suitably-size buffer
for a second call to func:pcre2_config(). The buffer is filled with a string
that contains the name of the architecture for which the JIT compiler is
configured at build time, for example, a 64-bit ARM CPU that supports the
Armv8.1 extension writes "ARM-64 (LSE) 64bit (little endian + unaligned)". If
JIT support is not available, const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOPTION is returned; otherwise the
number of code units used is returned. This is the length of the string plus one
unit for the terminating zero.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_LINKSIZE::
The output is a uint32_t integer that contains the number of bytes the library
was instructed to use for internal linkage in compiled regular expressions.
When PCRE2 is configured, the value can be set to 2, 3, or 4, with the default
being 2 for most libraries.
+
The actual number of bytes used depends on the size of the code units that the
library supports and can be higher. See const:PCRE2_CONFIG_EFFECTIVE_LINKSIZE above
for details.
+
The default value of 2 for the 8-bit and 16-bit libraries is sufficient for all
but the most massive patterns, since it allows the size of the compiled pattern
to be up to 65535 code units. Larger values allow larger regular expressions to
be compiled by those two libraries, but at the expense of slower matching.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_MATCHLIMIT::
The output is a uint32_t integer that gives the default match limit for
func:pcre2_match(). Further details are given with
func:pcre2_set_match_limit() above.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_NEWLINE::
The output is a uint32_t integer whose value specifies the default character
sequence that is recognized as meaning "newline". The values are:
[literal]
....
PCRE2_NEWLINE_CR Carriage return (CR)
PCRE2_NEWLINE_LF Linefeed (LF)
PCRE2_NEWLINE_CRLF Carriage return, linefeed (CRLF)
PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANY Any Unicode line ending
PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF Any of CR, LF, or CRLF
PCRE2_NEWLINE_NUL The NUL character (binary zero)
....
The default should normally correspond to the standard sequence for your
operating system.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_NEVER_BACKSLASH_C::
The output is a uint32_t integer that is set to one if the use of \C was
permanently disabled when PCRE2 was built; otherwise it is set to zero.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_PARENSLIMIT::
The output is a uint32_t integer that gives the maximum depth of nesting
of parentheses (of any kind) in a pattern. This limit is imposed to cap the
amount of system stack used when a pattern is compiled. It is specified when
PCRE2 is built; the default is 250. This limit does not take into account the
stack that may already be used by the calling application. For finer control
over compilation stack usage, see func:pcre2_set_compile_recursion_guard().
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_STACKRECURSE::
This parameter is obsolete and should not be used in new code. The output is a
uint32_t integer that is always set to zero.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_TABLES_LENGTH::
The output is a uint32_t integer that gives the length of PCRE2's character
processing tables in bytes. For details of these tables see the
section on locale support
below.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_UNICODE_VERSION::
The _where_ argument should point to a code-unit-aligned buffer. All
previous versions of PCRE2 have required no more than 24 code units of buffer
capacity. However, applications should call func:pcre2_config() with
`where` set to NULL to receive the required buffer size, then assert or
allocate a suitably-size buffer for a second call to func:pcre2_config(). If
PCRE2 has been compiled without Unicode support, the buffer is filled with the
text "Unicode not supported". Otherwise, the Unicode version string (for
example, "8.0.0") is written. The number of code units used is returned. This is
the length of the string plus one unit for the terminating zero.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_UNICODE::
The output is a uint32_t integer that is set to one if Unicode support is
available; otherwise it is set to zero. Unicode support implies UTF support.
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_VERSION::
The _where_ argument should point to a code-unit-aligned buffer. All
previous versions of PCRE2 have required no more than 24 code units of buffer
capacity. However, applications should call func:pcre2_config() with
`where` set to NULL to receive the required buffer size, then assert or
allocate a suitably-size buffer for a second call to func:pcre2_config(). The
buffer is filled with the PCRE2 version string, zero-terminated. The number of
code units used is returned. This is the length of the string plus one unit for
the terminating zero.
== Compiling a pattern
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_code *pcre2_compile(PCRE2_SPTR pattern, PCRE2_SIZE patlen,
uint32_t options, int *errorptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *erroroffset,
pcre2_compile_context *ccontext);
void pcre2_code_free(pcre2_code *code);
pcre2_code *pcre2_code_copy(const pcre2_code *code);
pcre2_code *pcre2_code_copy_with_tables(const pcre2_code *code);
----
The func:pcre2_compile() function compiles a pattern into an internal form.
The pattern is defined by a pointer to a string of code units and a length in
code units. If the pattern is zero-terminated, the length can be specified as
const:PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED. A [.c]`NULL` pattern pointer with a length of zero is treated
as an empty string ([.c]`NULL` with a non-zero length causes an error return). The
function returns a pointer to a block of memory that contains the compiled
pattern and related data, or [.c]`NULL` if an error occurred.
If the compile context argument arg:ccontext is [.c]`NULL`, memory for the compiled
pattern is obtained by calling [.c]`malloc()`. Otherwise, it is obtained from
the same memory function that was used for the compile context. The caller must
free the memory by calling func:pcre2_code_free() when it is no longer needed.
If func:pcre2_code_free() is called with a [.c]`NULL` argument, it returns
immediately, without doing anything.
The function func:pcre2_code_copy() makes a copy of the compiled code in new
memory, using the same memory allocator as was used for the original. However,
if the code has been processed by the JIT compiler (see
below),
the JIT information cannot be copied (because it is position-dependent).
The new copy can initially be used only for non-JIT matching, though it can be
passed to func:pcre2_jit_compile() if required. If func:pcre2_code_copy() is
called with a [.c]`NULL` argument, it returns [.c]`NULL`.
The func:pcre2_code_copy() function provides a way for individual threads in a
multithreaded application to acquire a private copy of shared compiled code.
However, it does not make a copy of the character tables used by the compiled
pattern; the new pattern code points to the same tables as the original code.
(See
"Locale Support"
below for details of these character tables.) In many applications the same
tables are used throughout, so this behaviour is appropriate. Nevertheless,
there are occasions when a copy of a compiled pattern and the relevant tables
are needed. The func:pcre2_code_copy_with_tables() provides this facility.
Copies of both the code and the tables are made, with the new code pointing to
the new tables. The memory for the new tables is automatically freed when
func:pcre2_code_free() is called for the new copy of the compiled code. If
func:pcre2_code_copy_with_tables() is called with a [.c]`NULL` argument, it returns
[.c]`NULL`.
[NOTE]
====
When one of the matching functions is called, pointers to the compiled
pattern and the subject string are set in the match data block so that they can
be referenced by the substring extraction functions after a successful match.
After running a match, you must not free a compiled pattern or a subject string
until after all operations on the
match data block
have taken place, unless, in the case of the subject string, you have used the
PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT option, which is described in the section entitled
"Option bits for ``pcre2_match()``"
below.
====
The arg:options argument for func:pcre2_compile() contains various bit
settings that affect the compilation. It should be zero if none of them are
required. The available options are described below. Some of them (in
particular, those that are compatible with Perl, but some others as well) can
also be set and unset from within the pattern (see the detailed description in
the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
documentation).
For those options that can be different in different parts of the pattern, the
contents of the _options_ argument specifies their settings at the start of
compilation. The const:PCRE2_ANCHORED, const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED, and const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK
options can be set at the time of matching as well as at compile time.
Some additional options and less frequently required compile-time parameters
(for example, the newline setting) can be provided in a compile context (as
described
above).
If arg:errorcode or arg:erroroffset is [.c]`NULL`, func:pcre2_compile() returns
[.c]`NULL` immediately. Otherwise, the variables to which these point are set to an
error code and an offset (number of code units) within the pattern,
respectively, when func:pcre2_compile() returns [.c]`NULL` because a compilation
error has occurred.
There are over 100 positive error codes that func:pcre2_compile() may return
if it finds an error in the pattern. There are also some negative error codes
that are used for invalid UTF strings when validity checking is in force. These
are the same as given by func:pcre2_match() and func:pcre2_dfa_match(), and
are described in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
documentation. There is no separate documentation for the positive error codes,
because the textual error messages that are obtained by calling the
func:pcre2_get_error_message() function (see "Obtaining a textual error
message"
below)
should be self-explanatory. Macro names starting with PCRE2_ERROR_ are defined
for both positive and negative error codes in `pcre2.h`. When compilation
is successful _errorcode_ is set to a value that returns the message "no
error" if passed to func:pcre2_get_error_message().
The value returned in _erroroffset_ is an indication of where in the
pattern an error occurred. When there is no error, zero is returned. A non-zero
value is not necessarily the furthest point in the pattern that was read. For
example, after the error "lookbehind assertion is not fixed length", the error
offset points to the start of the failing assertion. For an invalid UTF-8 or
UTF-16 string, the offset is that of the first code unit of the failing
character.
Some errors are not detected until the whole pattern has been scanned; in these
cases, the offset passed back is the length of the pattern. Note that the
offset is in code units, not characters, even in a UTF mode. It may sometimes
point into the middle of a UTF-8 or UTF-16 character.
This code fragment shows a typical straightforward call to
func:pcre2_compile():
[source,c]
----
pcre2_code *re;
PCRE2_SIZE erroffset;
int errorcode;
re = pcre2_compile(
"^A.*Z", /* the pattern */
PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED, /* the pattern is zero-terminated */
0, /* default options */
&errorcode, /* for error code */
&erroffset, /* for error offset */
NULL); /* no compile context */
----
=== Main compile options
The following names for option bits are defined in the `pcre2.h` header
file:
[.options]
const:PCRE2_ANCHORED::
If this bit is set, the pattern is forced to be "anchored", that is, it is
constrained to match only at the first matching point in the string that is
being searched (the "subject string"). This effect can also be achieved by
appropriate constructs in the pattern itself, which is the only way to do it in
Perl.
const:PCRE2_ALLOW_EMPTY_CLASS::
By default, for compatibility with Perl, a closing square bracket that
immediately follows an opening one is treated as a data character for the
class. When const:PCRE2_ALLOW_EMPTY_CLASS is set, it terminates the class, which
therefore contains no characters and so can never match.
const:PCRE2_ALT_BSUX::
This option request alternative handling of three escape sequences, which
makes PCRE2's behaviour more like ECMAscript (aka JavaScript). When it is set:
(1) [.regex]`\U` matches an upper case "U" character; by default [.regex]`\U` causes a compile
time error (Perl uses \U to upper case subsequent characters).
(2) [.regex]`\u` matches a lower case "u" character unless it is followed by four
hexadecimal digits, in which case the hexadecimal number defines the code point
to match. By default, [.regex]`\u` causes a compile time error (Perl uses it to upper
case the following character).
(3) [.regex]`\x` matches a lower case "x" character unless it is followed by two
hexadecimal digits, in which case the hexadecimal number defines the code point
to match. By default, as in Perl, a hexadecimal number is always expected after
[.regex]`\x`, but it may have one or two digits.
ECMAscript 6 added additional functionality to [.regex]`\u`. This can be accessed using
the const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX extra option (see "Extra compile options"
below).
Note that this alternative escape handling applies only to patterns. Neither of
these options affects the processing of replacement strings passed to
func:pcre2_substitute().
const:PCRE2_ALT_CIRCUMFLEX::
In multiline mode (when const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is set), the circumflex metacharacter
matches at the start of the subject (unless const:PCRE2_NOTBOL is set), and also
after any internal newline. However, it does not match after a newline at the
end of the subject, for compatibility with Perl. If you want a multiline
circumflex also to match after a terminating newline, you must set
const:PCRE2_ALT_CIRCUMFLEX.
const:PCRE2_ALT_EXTENDED_CLASS::
Alters the parsing of character classes to follow the extended syntax
described by Unicode UTS#18. The const:PCRE2_ALT_EXTENDED_CLASS option has no impact
on the behaviour of the Perl-specific "(?[...])" syntax for extended classes,
but instead enables the alternative syntax of extended class behaviour inside
ordinary "[...]" character classes. See the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
documentation for details of the character classes supported.
const:PCRE2_ALT_VERBNAMES::
By default, for compatibility with Perl, the name in any verb sequence such as
[.regex]`(*MARK:NAME)` is any sequence of characters that does not include a closing
parenthesis. The name is not processed in any way, and it is not possible to
include a closing parenthesis in the name. However, if the const:PCRE2_ALT_VERBNAMES
option is set, normal backslash processing is applied to verb names and only an
unescaped closing parenthesis terminates the name. A closing parenthesis can be
included in a name either as \) or between \Q and \E. If the const:PCRE2_EXTENDED
or const:PCRE2_EXTENDED_MORE option is set with const:PCRE2_ALT_VERBNAMES, unescaped
white space in verb names is skipped and #-comments are recognized, exactly as
in the rest of the pattern.
const:PCRE2_AUTO_CALLOUT::
If this bit is set, func:pcre2_compile() automatically inserts callout items,
all with number 255, before each pattern item, except immediately before or
after an explicit callout in the pattern. For discussion of the callout
facility, see the
xref:pcre2callout.adoc[`pcre2callout`]
documentation.
const:PCRE2_CASELESS::
If this bit is set, letters in the pattern match both upper and lower case
letters in the subject. It is equivalent to Perl's /i option, and it can be
changed within a pattern by a [.regex]`(?i)` option setting. If either const:PCRE2_UTF or
const:PCRE2_UCP is set, Unicode properties are used for all characters with more than
one other case, and for all characters whose code points are greater than
`U+007F`.
Note that there are two ASCII characters, K and S, that, in addition to
their lower case ASCII equivalents, are case-equivalent with `U+212A` (Kelvin
sign) and `U+017F` (long S) respectively. If you do not want this case
equivalence, you can suppress it by setting const:PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT.
One language family, Turkish and Azeri, has its own case-insensitivity rules,
which can be selected by setting const:PCRE2_EXTRA_TURKISH_CASING. This alters the
behaviour of the 'i', 'I', `U+0130` (capital I with dot above), and `U+0131`
(small dotless i) characters.
For lower valued characters with only one other case, a lookup table is used
for speed. When neither const:PCRE2_UTF nor const:PCRE2_UCP is set, a lookup table is used
for all code points less than 256, and higher code points (available only in
16-bit or 32-bit mode) are treated as not having another case.
From release 10.45 const:PCRE2_CASELESS also affects what some of the letter-related
Unicode property escapes (\p and \P) match. The properties Lu (upper case
letter), Ll (lower case letter), and Lt (title case letter) are all treated as
LC (cased letter) when const:PCRE2_CASELESS is set.
const:PCRE2_DOLLAR_ENDONLY::
If this bit is set, a dollar metacharacter in the pattern matches only at the
end of the subject string. Without this option, a dollar also matches
immediately before a newline at the end of the string (but not before any other
newlines). The const:PCRE2_DOLLAR_ENDONLY option is ignored if const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is
set. There is no equivalent to this option in Perl, and no way to set it within
a pattern.
const:PCRE2_DOTALL::
If this bit is set, a dot metacharacter in the pattern matches any character,
including one that indicates a newline. However, it only ever matches one
character, even if newlines are coded as CRLF. Without this option, a dot does
not match when the current position in the subject is at a newline. This option
is equivalent to Perl's /s option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
(?s) option setting. A negative class such as [^a] always matches newline
characters, and the \N escape sequence always matches a non-newline character,
independent of the setting of const:PCRE2_DOTALL.
const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES::
If this bit is set, names used to identify capture groups need not be unique.
This can be helpful for certain types of pattern when it is known that only one
instance of the named group can ever be matched. There are more details of
named capture groups below; see also the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
documentation.
const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED::
If this bit is set, the end of any pattern match must be right at the end of
the string being searched (the "subject string"). If the pattern match
succeeds by reaching [.regex]`(*ACCEPT)`, but does not reach the end of the subject, the
match fails at the current starting point. For unanchored patterns, a new match
is then tried at the next starting point. However, if the match succeeds by
reaching the end of the pattern, but not the end of the subject, backtracking
occurs and an alternative match may be found. Consider these two patterns:
[source,regex]
----
.(*ACCEPT)|..
.|..
----
If matched against "abc" with const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED set, the first matches "c"
whereas the second matches "bc". The effect of const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED can also be
achieved by appropriate constructs in the pattern itself, which is the only way
to do it in Perl.
For DFA matching with func:pcre2_dfa_match(), const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED applies only
to the first (that is, the longest) matched string. Other parallel matches,
which are necessarily substrings of the first one, must obviously end before
the end of the subject.
const:PCRE2_EXTENDED::
If this bit is set, most white space characters in the pattern are totally
ignored except when escaped, inside a character class, or inside a \Q...\E
sequence. However, white space is not allowed within sequences such as (?> that
introduce various parenthesized groups, nor within numerical quantifiers such
as {1,3}. Ignorable white space is permitted between an item and a following
quantifier and between a quantifier and a following [.regex]`+` that indicates
possessiveness. const:PCRE2_EXTENDED is equivalent to Perl's /x option, and it can be
changed within a pattern by a [.regex]`(?x)` option setting.
When PCRE2 is compiled without Unicode support, const:PCRE2_EXTENDED recognizes as
white space only those characters with code points less than 256 that are
flagged as white space in its low-character table. The table is normally
created by
xref:pcre2_maketables.adoc[func:pcre2_maketables(),]
which uses the [.c]`isspace()` function to identify space characters. In most
ASCII environments, the relevant characters are those with code points 0x0009
(tab), 0x000A (linefeed), 0x000B (vertical tab), 0x000C (formfeed), 0x000D
(carriage return), and 0x0020 (space).
When PCRE2 is compiled with Unicode support, in addition to these characters,
five more Unicode "Pattern White Space" characters are recognized by
const:PCRE2_EXTENDED. These are `U+0085` (next line), `U+200E` (left-to-right mark),
`U+200F` (right-to-left mark), `U+2028` (line separator), and `U+2029` (paragraph
separator). This set of characters is the same as recognized by Perl's /x
option. Note that the horizontal and vertical space characters that are matched
by the \h and \v escapes in patterns are a much bigger set.
As well as ignoring most white space, const:PCRE2_EXTENDED also causes characters
between an unescaped # outside a character class and the next newline,
inclusive, to be ignored, which makes it possible to include comments inside
complicated patterns. Note that the end of this type of comment is a literal
newline sequence in the pattern; escape sequences that happen to represent a
newline do not count.
Which characters are interpreted as newlines can be specified by a setting in
the compile context that is passed to func:pcre2_compile() or by a special
sequence at the start of the pattern, as described in the section entitled
"Newline conventions"
in the `pcre2pattern` documentation. A default is defined when PCRE2 is
built.
const:PCRE2_EXTENDED_MORE::
This option has the effect of const:PCRE2_EXTENDED, but, in addition, unescaped space
and horizontal tab characters are ignored inside a character class. Note: only
these two characters are ignored, not the full set of pattern white space
characters that are ignored outside a character class. const:PCRE2_EXTENDED_MORE is
equivalent to Perl's /xx option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
[.regex]`(?xx)` option setting.
const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE::
If this option is set, the start of an unanchored pattern match must be before
or at the first newline in the subject string following the start of matching,
though the matched text may continue over the newline. If arg:start_offset is
non-zero, the limiting newline is not necessarily the first newline in the
subject. For example, if the subject string is "abc\nxyz" (where \n
represents a single-character newline) a pattern match for "yz" succeeds with
const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE if arg:start_offset is greater than 3. See also
const:PCRE2_USE_OFFSET_LIMIT, which provides a more general limiting facility. If
const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE is set with an offset limit, a match must occur in the first
line and also within the offset limit. In other words, whichever limit comes
first is used. This option has no effect for anchored patterns.
const:PCRE2_LITERAL::
If this option is set, all meta-characters in the pattern are disabled, and it
is treated as a literal string. Matching literal strings with a regular
expression engine is not the most efficient way of doing it. If you are doing a
lot of literal matching and are worried about efficiency, you should consider
using other approaches. The only other main options that are allowed with
const:PCRE2_LITERAL are: const:PCRE2_ANCHORED, const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED, const:PCRE2_AUTO_CALLOUT,
const:PCRE2_CASELESS, const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE, const:PCRE2_MATCH_INVALID_UTF,
const:PCRE2_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK, const:PCRE2_UTF, and
const:PCRE2_USE_OFFSET_LIMIT. The extra options const:PCRE2_EXTRA_MATCH_LINE and
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_MATCH_WORD are also supported. Any other options cause an error.
const:PCRE2_MATCH_INVALID_UTF::
This option forces const:PCRE2_UTF (see below) and also enables support for matching
by func:pcre2_match() in subject strings that contain invalid UTF sequences.
Note, however, that the 16-bit and 32-bit PCRE2 libraries process strings as
sequences of uint16_t or uint32_t code points. They cannot find valid UTF
sequences within an arbitrary string of bytes unless such sequences are
suitably aligned. This facility is not supported for DFA matching. For details,
see the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
documentation.
const:PCRE2_MATCH_UNSET_BACKREF::
If this option is set, a backreference to an unset capture group matches an
empty string (by default this causes the current matching alternative to fail).
A pattern such as (\1)(a) succeeds when this option is set (assuming it can
find an "a" in the subject), whereas it fails by default, for Perl
compatibility. Setting this option makes PCRE2 behave more like ECMAscript (aka
JavaScript).
const:PCRE2_MULTILINE::
By default, for the purposes of matching "start of line" and "end of line",
PCRE2 treats the subject string as consisting of a single line of characters,
even if it actually contains newlines. The "start of line" metacharacter (^)
matches only at the start of the string, and the "end of line" metacharacter
($) matches only at the end of the string, or before a terminating newline
(except when const:PCRE2_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set). Note, however, that unless
const:PCRE2_DOTALL is set, the "any character" metacharacter (.) does not match at a
newline. This behaviour (for ^, $, and dot) is the same as Perl.
When const:PCRE2_MULTILINE it is set, the "start of line" and "end of line"
constructs match immediately following or immediately before internal newlines
in the subject string, respectively, as well as at the very start and end. This
is equivalent to Perl's /m option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
[.regex]`(?m)` option setting. Note that the "start of line" metacharacter does not match
after a newline at the end of the subject, for compatibility with Perl.
However, you can change this by setting the const:PCRE2_ALT_CIRCUMFLEX option. If
there are no newlines in a subject string, or no occurrences of ^ or $ in a
pattern, setting const:PCRE2_MULTILINE has no effect.
const:PCRE2_NEVER_BACKSLASH_C::
This option locks out the use of \C in the pattern that is being compiled.
This escape can cause unpredictable behaviour in UTF-8 or UTF-16 modes, because
it may leave the current matching point in the middle of a multi-code-unit
character. This option may be useful in applications that process patterns from
external sources. Note that there is also a build-time option that permanently
locks out the use of \C.
const:PCRE2_NEVER_UCP::
This option locks out the use of Unicode properties for handling \B, \b, \D,
\d, \S, \s, \W, \w, and some of the POSIX character classes, as described
for the const:PCRE2_UCP option below. In particular, it prevents the creator of the
pattern from enabling this facility by starting the pattern with [.regex]`(*UCP)`. This
option may be useful in applications that process patterns from external
sources. The option combination const:PCRE2_UCP and const:PCRE2_NEVER_UCP causes an error.
const:PCRE2_NEVER_UTF::
This option locks out interpretation of the pattern as UTF-8, UTF-16, or
UTF-32, depending on which library is in use. In particular, it prevents the
creator of the pattern from switching to UTF interpretation by starting the
pattern with [.regex]`(*UTF)`. This option may be useful in applications that process
patterns from external sources. The combination of const:PCRE2_UTF and
const:PCRE2_NEVER_UTF causes an error.
const:PCRE2_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE::
If this option is set, it disables the use of numbered capturing parentheses in
the pattern. Any opening parenthesis that is not followed by ? behaves as if it
were followed by ?: but named parentheses can still be used for capturing (and
they acquire numbers in the usual way). This is the same as Perl's /n option.
Note that, when this option is set, references to capture groups
(backreferences or recursion/subroutine calls) may only refer to named groups,
though the reference can be by name or by number.
const:PCRE2_NO_AUTO_POSSESS::
If this (deprecated) option is set, it disables "auto-possessification", which
is an optimization that, for example, turns [.regex]`a+b` into
[.regex]`a&#43;&#43;b` in order to avoid
backtracks into [.regex]`a&#43;&#43;` that can never be successful. However, if callouts are in
use, auto-possessification means that some callouts are never taken. You can
set this option if you want the matching functions to do a full unoptimized
search and run all the callouts, but it is mainly provided for testing
purposes.
If a compile context is available, it is recommended to use
func:pcre2_set_optimize() with the _directive_ const:PCRE2_AUTO_POSSESS_OFF rather
than the compile option const:PCRE2_NO_AUTO_POSSESS. Note that const:PCRE2_NO_AUTO_POSSESS
takes precedence over the func:pcre2_set_optimize() optimization directives
const:PCRE2_AUTO_POSSESS and const:PCRE2_AUTO_POSSESS_OFF.
const:PCRE2_NO_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR::
If this (deprecated) option is set, it disables an optimization that is applied
when [.regex]`.*` is the first significant item in a top-level branch of a pattern, and
all the other branches also start with [.regex]`.*` or with \A or \G or ^. The
optimization is automatically disabled for [.regex]`.*` if it is inside an atomic group
or a capture group that is the subject of a backreference, or if the pattern
contains [.regex]`(*PRUNE)` or [.regex]`(*SKIP)`. When the optimization is not disabled, such a
pattern is automatically anchored if const:PCRE2_DOTALL is set for all the [.regex]`.*` items
and const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is not set for any ^ items. Otherwise, the fact that any
match must start either at the start of the subject or following a newline is
remembered. Like other optimizations, this can cause callouts to be skipped.
(If a compile context is available, it is recommended to use
func:pcre2_set_optimize() with the _directive_ const:PCRE2_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR_OFF
instead.)
const:PCRE2_NO_START_OPTIMIZE::
This is an option whose main effect is at matching time. It does not change
what func:pcre2_compile() generates, but it does affect the output of the JIT
compiler. Setting this option is equivalent to calling
func:pcre2_set_optimize() with the _directive_ parameter set to
const:PCRE2_START_OPTIMIZE_OFF.
There are a number of optimizations that may occur at the start of a match, in
order to speed up the process. For example, if it is known that an unanchored
match must start with a specific code unit value, the matching code searches
the subject for that value, and fails immediately if it cannot find it, without
actually running the main matching function. The start-up optimizations are
in effect a pre-scan of the subject that takes place before the pattern is run.
Disabling the start-up optimizations may cause performance to suffer. However,
this may be desirable for patterns which contain callouts or items such as
[.regex]`(*COMMIT)` and [.regex]`(*MARK)`. See the above description of const:PCRE2_START_OPTIMIZE_OFF
for further details.
const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK::
When const:PCRE2_UTF is set, the validity of the pattern as a UTF string is
automatically checked. There are discussions about the validity of
UTF-8 strings,
UTF-16 strings,
and
UTF-32 strings
in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
document. If an invalid UTF sequence is found, func:pcre2_compile() returns a
negative error code.
If you know that your pattern is a valid UTF string, and you want to skip this
check for performance reasons, you can set the const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK option. When
it is set, the effect of passing an invalid UTF string as a pattern is
undefined. It may cause your program to crash or loop.
Note that this option can also be passed to func:pcre2_match() and
func:pcre2_dfa_match(), to suppress UTF validity checking of the subject
string.
Note also that setting const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK at compile time does not disable the
error that is given if an escape sequence for an invalid Unicode code point is
encountered in the pattern. In particular, the so-called "surrogate" code
points (0xd800 to 0xdfff) are invalid. If you want to allow escape sequences
such as \x{d800} you can set the const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_SURROGATE_ESCAPES extra
option, as described in the section entitled "Extra compile options"
below.
However, this is possible only in UTF-8 and UTF-32 modes, because these values
are not representable in UTF-16.
const:PCRE2_UCP::
This option has two effects. Firstly, it change the way PCRE2 processes \B,
\b, \D, \d, \S, \s, \W, \w, and some of the POSIX character classes. By
default, only ASCII characters are recognized, but if const:PCRE2_UCP is set, Unicode
properties are used to classify characters. There are some PCRE2_EXTRA
options (see below) that add finer control to this behaviour. More details are
given in the section on
generic character types
in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page.
The second effect of const:PCRE2_UCP is to force the use of Unicode properties for
upper/lower casing operations, even when const:PCRE2_UTF is not set. This makes it
possible to process strings in the 16-bit UCS-2 code. This option is available
only if PCRE2 has been compiled with Unicode support (which is the default).
The const:PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT option (see above) restricts caseless
matching such that ASCII characters match only ASCII characters and non-ASCII
characters match only non-ASCII characters. The const:PCRE2_EXTRA_TURKISH_CASING
option (see above) alters the matching of the 'i' characters to follow their
behaviour in Turkish and Azeri languages. For further details on
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT and const:PCRE2_EXTRA_TURKISH_CASING, see the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
page.
const:PCRE2_UNGREEDY::
This option inverts the "greediness" of the quantifiers so that they are not
greedy by default, but become greedy if followed by "?". It is not compatible
with Perl. It can also be set by a [.regex]`(?U)` option setting within the pattern.
const:PCRE2_USE_OFFSET_LIMIT::
This option must be set for func:pcre2_compile() if
func:pcre2_set_offset_limit() is going to be used to set a non-default offset
limit in a match context for matches that use this pattern. An error is
generated if an offset limit is set without this option. For more details, see
the description of func:pcre2_set_offset_limit() in the
section
that describes match contexts. See also the const:PCRE2_FIRSTLINE
option above.
const:PCRE2_UTF::
This option causes PCRE2 to regard both the pattern and the subject strings
that are subsequently processed as strings of UTF characters instead of
single-code-unit strings. It is available when PCRE2 is built to include
Unicode support (which is the default). If Unicode support is not available,
the use of this option provokes an error. Details of how const:PCRE2_UTF changes the
behaviour of PCRE2 are given in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
page. In particular, note that it changes the way const:PCRE2_CASELESS works.
=== Extra compile options
The option bits that can be set in a compile context by calling the
func:pcre2_set_compile_extra_options() function are as follows:
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK::
+
Since release [.c]`10.38` PCRE2 has forbidden the use of [.regex]`\K` within lookaround
assertions, following Perl's lead. This option is provided to re-enable the
previous behaviour (act in positive lookarounds, ignore in negative ones) in
case anybody is relying on it.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_SURROGATE_ESCAPES::
+
This option applies when compiling a pattern in UTF-8 or UTF-32 mode. It is
forbidden in UTF-16 mode, and ignored in non-UTF modes. Unicode "surrogate"
code points in the range [.c]`0xd800` to [.c]`0xdfff` are used in pairs in UTF-16 to encode
code points with values in the range [.c]`0x10000` to [.c]`0x10ffff`. The surrogates cannot
therefore be represented in UTF-16. They can be represented in UTF-8 and
UTF-32, but are defined as invalid code points, and cause errors if encountered
in a UTF-8 or UTF-32 string that is being checked for validity by PCRE2.
These values also cause errors if encountered in escape sequences such as
[.regex]`\x{d912}` within a pattern. However, it seems that some applications, when
using PCRE2 to check for unwanted characters in UTF-8 strings, explicitly test
for the surrogates using escape sequences. The const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK option does
not disable the error that occurs, because it applies only to the testing of
input strings for UTF validity.
If the extra option const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_SURROGATE_ESCAPES is set, surrogate code
point values in UTF-8 and UTF-32 patterns no longer provoke errors and are
incorporated in the compiled pattern. However, they can only match subject
characters if the matching function is called with const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK set.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX::
+
The original option const:PCRE2_ALT_BSUX causes PCRE2 to process [.regex]`\U`, [.regex]`\u`, and [.regex]`\x` in
the way that ECMAscript (aka JavaScript) does. Additional functionality was
defined by ECMAscript [.c]`6`; setting const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX has the effect of
const:PCRE2_ALT_BSUX, but in addition it recognizes [.regex]`\u{hhh..}` as a hexadecimal
character code, where hhh.. is any number of hexadecimal digits.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_BSD::
+
This option forces [.regex]`\d` to match only ASCII digits, even when const:PCRE2_UCP is set.
It can be changed within a pattern by means of the [.regex]`(?aD)` option setting.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_BSS::
+
This option forces [.regex]`\s` to match only ASCII space characters, even when
const:PCRE2_UCP is set. It can be changed within a pattern by means of the [.regex]`(?aS)`
option setting.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_BSW::
+
This option forces [.regex]`\w` to match only ASCII word characters, even when const:PCRE2_UCP
is set. It can be changed within a pattern by means of the [.regex]`(?aW)` option
setting.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_DIGIT::
+
This option forces the POSIX character classes [.regex]`[:digit:]` and [.regex]`[:xdigit:]` to
match only ASCII digits, even when const:PCRE2_UCP is set. It can be changed within
a pattern by means of the [.regex]`(?aT)` option setting.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_POSIX::
+
This option forces all the POSIX character classes, including [.regex]`[:digit:]` and
[.regex]`[:xdigit:]`, to match only ASCII characters, even when const:PCRE2_UCP is set. It can
be changed within a pattern by means of the [.regex]`(?aP)` option setting, but note that
this also sets const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ASCII_DIGIT in order to ensure that [.regex]`(?-aP)` unsets
all ASCII restrictions for POSIX classes.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_BAD_ESCAPE_IS_LITERAL::
+
This is a dangerous option. Use with care. By default, an unrecognized escape
such as [.regex]`\j` or a malformed one such as [.regex]`\x{2z}` causes a compile-time error when
detected by func:pcre2_compile(). Perl is somewhat inconsistent in handling
such items: for example, [.regex]`\j` is treated as a literal "j", and non-hexadecimal
digits in [.regex]`\x{}` are just ignored, though warnings are given in both cases if
Perl's warning switch is enabled. However, a malformed octal number after [.regex]`\o{`
always causes an error in Perl.
If the const:PCRE2_EXTRA_BAD_ESCAPE_IS_LITERAL extra option is passed to
func:pcre2_compile(), all unrecognized or malformed escape sequences are
treated as single-character escapes. For example, [.regex]`\j` is a literal "j" and
[.regex]`\x{2z}` is treated as the literal string "x{2z}". Setting this option means
that typos in patterns may go undetected and have unexpected results. Also note
that a sequence such as [.regex]`[\N{]` is interpreted as a malformed attempt at
[.regex]`[\N{...]` and so is treated as [.regex]`[N{]` whereas [.regex]`[\N]` gives an error because an
unqualified [.regex]`\N` is a valid escape sequence but is not supported in a character
class. To reiterate: this is a dangerous option. Use with great care.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT::
+
When either const:PCRE2_UCP or const:PCRE2_UTF is set, caseless matching follows Unicode
rules, which allow for more than two cases per character. There are two
case-equivalent character sets that contain both ASCII and non-ASCII
characters. The ASCII letter S is case-equivalent to `U+017f` (long S) and the
ASCII letter K is case-equivalent to `U+212a` (Kelvin sign). This option disables
recognition of case-equivalences that cross the ASCII/non-ASCII boundary. In a
caseless match, both characters must either be ASCII or non-ASCII. The option
can be changed within a pattern by the [.regex]`(*CASELESS_RESTRICT)` or [.regex]`(?r)` option
settings.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ESCAPED_CR_IS_LF::
+
There are some legacy applications where the escape sequence [.regex]`\r` in a pattern
is expected to match a newline. If this option is set, [.regex]`\r` in a pattern is
converted to [.regex]`\n` so that it matches a LF (linefeed) instead of a CR (carriage
return) character. The option does not affect a literal CR in the pattern, nor
does it affect CR specified as an explicit code point such as [.regex]`\x{0D}`.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_MATCH_LINE::
+
This option is provided for use by the `-x` option of `pcre2grep`. It
causes the pattern only to match complete lines. This is achieved by
automatically inserting the code [.regex]`^(?:` at the start of the compiled
pattern and [.regex]`)$` at the end. Thus, when const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is set, the matched
line may be in the middle of the subject string. This option can be used with
const:PCRE2_LITERAL.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_MATCH_WORD::
+
This option is provided for use by the `-w` option of `pcre2grep`. It
causes the pattern only to match strings that have a word boundary at the start
and the end. This is achieved by automatically inserting the code for [.regex]`\b(?:`
at the start of the compiled pattern and [.regex]`)\b` at the end. The option may be
used with const:PCRE2_LITERAL. However, it is ignored if const:PCRE2_EXTRA_MATCH_LINE is
also set.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_NO_BS0::
+
If this option is set (note that its final character is the digit [.c]`0`) it locks
out the use of the sequence [.regex]`\0` unless at least one more octal digit follows.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_PYTHON_OCTAL::
+
If this option is set, PCRE2 follows Python's rules for interpreting octal
escape sequences. The rules for handling sequences such as [.regex]`\14`, which could
be an octal number or a back reference are different. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
documentation.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_NEVER_CALLOUT::
+
If this option is set, PCRE2 treats callouts in the pattern as a syntax error,
returning const:PCRE2_ERROR_CALLOUT_CALLER_DISABLED. This is useful if the application
knows that a callout will not be provided to func:pcre2_match(), so that
callouts in the pattern are not silently ignored.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_TURKISH_CASING::
+
This option alters case-equivalence of the 'i' letters to follow the
alphabet used by Turkish and Azeri languages. The option can be changed within
a pattern by the [.regex]`(*TURKISH_CASING)` start-of-pattern setting. Either the UTF or
UCP options must be set. In the 8-bit library, UTF must be set. This option
cannot be combined with const:PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT.
== Just-in-time (JIT) compilation
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_jit_compile(pcre2_code *code, uint32_t options);
int pcre2_jit_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
void pcre2_jit_free_unused_memory(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_jit_stack *pcre2_jit_stack_create(
size_t startsize, size_t maxsize,
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_jit_stack_assign(pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
pcre2_jit_callback callback,
void *callback_data);
void pcre2_jit_stack_free(pcre2_jit_stack *jit_stack);
----
These functions provide support for JIT compilation, which, if the just-in-time
compiler is available, further processes a compiled pattern into machine code
that executes much faster than the func:pcre2_match() interpretive matching
function. Full details are given in the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation.
JIT compilation is a heavyweight optimization. It can take some time for
patterns to be analyzed, and for one-off matches and simple patterns the
benefit of faster execution might be offset by a much slower compilation time.
Most (but not all) patterns can be optimized by the JIT compiler.
== Locale support
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
const uint8_t *pcre2_maketables(pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_maketables_free(pcre2_general_context *gcontext,
const uint8_t *tables);
----
PCRE2 handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are letters,
digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed by character code
point. However, this applies only to characters whose code points are less than
256. By default, higher-valued code points never match escapes such as [.regex]`\w` or
[.regex]`\d`.
When PCRE2 is built with Unicode support (the default), certain Unicode
character properties can be tested with [.regex]`\p` and [.regex]`\P`, or, alternatively, the
const:PCRE2_UCP option can be set when a pattern is compiled; this causes [.regex]`\w` and
friends to use Unicode property support instead of the built-in tables.
const:PCRE2_UCP also causes upper/lower casing operations on characters with code
points greater than 127 to use Unicode properties. These effects apply even
when const:PCRE2_UTF is not set. There are, however, some PCRE2_EXTRA options (see
above) that can be used to modify or suppress them.
The use of locales with Unicode is discouraged. If you are handling characters
with code points greater than 127, you should either use Unicode support, or
use locales, but not try to mix the two.
PCRE2 contains a built-in set of character tables that are used by default.
These are sufficient for many applications. Normally, the internal tables
recognize only ASCII characters. However, when PCRE2 is built, it is possible
to cause the internal tables to be rebuilt in the default "C" locale of the
local system, which may cause them to be different.
The built-in tables can be overridden by tables supplied by the application
that calls PCRE2. These may be created in a different locale from the default.
As more and more applications change to using Unicode, the need for this locale
support is expected to die away.
External tables are built by calling the func:pcre2_maketables() function, in
the relevant locale. The only argument to this function is a general context,
which can be used to pass a custom memory allocator. If the argument is NULL,
the system `malloc()` is used. The result can be passed to
func:pcre2_compile() as often as necessary, by creating a compile context and
calling func:pcre2_set_character_tables() to set the tables pointer therein.
For example, to build and use tables that are appropriate for the French locale
(where accented characters with values greater than 127 are treated as
letters), the following code could be used:
[source,c]
....
setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "fr_FR");
tables = pcre2_maketables(NULL);
ccontext = pcre2_compile_context_create(NULL);
pcre2_set_character_tables(ccontext, tables);
re = pcre2_compile(..., ccontext);
....
The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; if you
are using Windows, the name for the French locale is "french".
The pointer that is passed (via the compile context) to func:pcre2_compile()
is saved with the compiled pattern, and the same tables are used by the
matching functions. Thus, for any single pattern, compilation and matching both
happen in the same locale, but different patterns can be processed in different
locales.
It is the caller's responsibility to ensure that the memory containing the
tables remains available while they are still in use. When they are no longer
needed, you can discard them using func:pcre2_maketables_free(), which should
pass as its first parameter the same global context that was used to create the
tables.
=== Saving locale tables
The tables described above are just a sequence of binary bytes, which makes
them independent of hardware characteristics such as endianness or whether the
processor is 32-bit or 64-bit. A copy of the result of func:pcre2_maketables()
can therefore be saved in a file or elsewhere and re-used later, even in a
different program or on another computer. The size of the tables (number of
bytes) must be obtained by calling func:pcre2_config() with the
const:PCRE2_CONFIG_TABLES_LENGTH option because func:pcre2_maketables() does not
return this value. Note that the `pcre2_dftables` program, which is part of
the PCRE2 build system, can be used stand-alone to create a file that contains
a set of binary tables. See the
`pcre2build`
documentation for details.
== Information about a compiled pattern
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_pattern_info(const pcre2_code *code, uint32_t what,
void *where);
----
The func:pcre2_pattern_info() function returns general information about a
compiled pattern. For information about callouts, see the
next section.
The first argument for func:pcre2_pattern_info() is a pointer to the compiled
pattern. The second argument specifies which piece of information is required,
and the third argument is a pointer to a variable to receive the data. If the
third argument is NULL, the first argument is ignored, and the function returns
the size in bytes of the variable that is required for the information
requested. Otherwise, the yield of the function is zero for success, or one of
the following negative numbers:
[.errors]
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NULL::
the argument _code_ was NULL
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADMAGIC::
the "magic number" was not found
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOPTION::
the value of _what_ was invalid
const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET::
the requested field is not set
The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as a simple
check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. Here is a typical call of
func:pcre2_pattern_info(), to obtain the length of the compiled pattern:
[source,c]
....
int rc;
size_t length;
rc = pcre2_pattern_info(
re, /* result of pcre2_compile() */
PCRE2_INFO_SIZE, /* what is required */
&length); /* where to put the data */
....
The possible values for the second argument are defined in `pcre2.h`, and
are as follows:
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS::
const:PCRE2_INFO_ARGOPTIONS::
const:PCRE2_INFO_EXTRAOPTIONS::
....
PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS
PCRE2_INFO_ARGOPTIONS
PCRE2_INFO_EXTRAOPTIONS
....
Return copies of the pattern's options. The third argument should point to a
`uint32_t` variable. const:PCRE2_INFO_ARGOPTIONS returns exactly the options that
were passed to func:pcre2_compile(), whereas const:PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS returns
the compile options as modified by any top-level [.regex]`(*XXX)` option settings such as
[.regex]`(*UTF)` at the start of the pattern itself. const:PCRE2_INFO_EXTRAOPTIONS returns the
extra options that were set in the compile context by calling the
func:pcre2_set_compile_extra_options() function.
For example, if the pattern [.regex]`/(*UTF)abc/` is compiled with the const:PCRE2_EXTENDED
option, the result for const:PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS is const:PCRE2_EXTENDED and const:PCRE2_UTF.
Option settings such as [.regex]`(?i)` that can change within a pattern do not affect the
result of const:PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS, even if they appear right at the start of the
pattern. (This was different in some earlier releases.)
A pattern compiled without const:PCRE2_ANCHORED is automatically anchored by PCRE2 if
the first significant item in every top-level branch is one of the following:
[.values]
[.regex]`^`::
unless const:PCRE2_MULTILINE is set
[.regex]`\A`::
always
[.regex]`\G`::
always
[.regex]`.*`::
sometimes - see below
When [.regex]`.*` is the first significant item, anchoring is possible only when all the
following are true:
* [.regex]`.*` is not in an atomic group
* [.regex]`.*` is not in a capture group that is the subject of a backreference
* const:PCRE2_DOTALL is in force for [.regex]`.*`
* Neither [.regex]`(*PRUNE)` nor [.regex]`(*SKIP)` appears in the pattern
* const:PCRE2_NO_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR is not set
* Dotstar anchoring has not been disabled with const:PCRE2_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR_OFF
For patterns that are auto-anchored, the const:PCRE2_ANCHORED bit is set in the
options returned for const:PCRE2_INFO_ALLOPTIONS.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_BACKREFMAX::
Return the number of the highest backreference in the pattern. The third
argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable. Named capture groups
acquire numbers as well as names, and these count towards the highest
backreference. Backreferences such as \4 or \g{12} match the captured
characters of the given group, but in addition, the check that a capture
group is set in a conditional group such as (?(3)a|b) is also a backreference.
Zero is returned if there are no backreferences.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_BSR::
The output is a uint32_t integer whose value indicates what character sequences
the \R escape sequence matches. A value of const:PCRE2_BSR_UNICODE means that \R
matches any Unicode line ending sequence; a value of const:PCRE2_BSR_ANYCRLF means
that \R matches only CR, LF, or CRLF.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_CAPTURECOUNT::
Return the highest capture group number in the pattern. In patterns where (?|
is not used, this is also the total number of capture groups. The third
argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_DEPTHLIMIT::
If the pattern set a backtracking depth limit by including an item of the form
[.regex]`(*LIMIT_DEPTH=nnnn)` at the start, the value is returned. The third argument
should point to a uint32_t integer. If no such value has been set, the call to
func:pcre2_pattern_info() returns the error const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET. Note that this
limit will only be used during matching if it is less than the limit set or
defaulted by the caller of the match function.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_FIRSTBITMAP::
In the absence of a single first code unit for a non-anchored pattern,
func:pcre2_compile() may construct a 256-bit table that defines a fixed set of
values for the first code unit in any match. For example, a pattern that starts
with [abc] results in a table with three bits set. When code unit values
greater than 255 are supported, the flag bit for 255 means "any code unit of
value 255 or above". If such a table was constructed, a pointer to it is
returned. Otherwise NULL is returned. The third argument should point to a
[.c]`const uint8_t *` variable.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_FIRSTCODETYPE::
Return information about the first code unit of any matched string, for a
non-anchored pattern. The third argument should point to a `uint32_t`
variable. If there is a fixed first value, for example, the letter "c" from a
pattern such as (cat|cow|coyote), 1 is returned, and the value can be retrieved
using const:PCRE2_INFO_FIRSTCODEUNIT. If there is no fixed first value, but it is
known that a match can occur only at the start of the subject or following a
newline in the subject, 2 is returned. Otherwise, and for anchored patterns, 0
is returned.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_FIRSTCODEUNIT::
Return the value of the first code unit of any matched string for a pattern
where const:PCRE2_INFO_FIRSTCODETYPE returns 1; otherwise return 0. The third
argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable. In the 8-bit library, the
value is always less than 256. In the 16-bit library the value can be up to
0xffff. In the 32-bit library in UTF-32 mode the value can be up to 0x10ffff,
and up to 0xffffffff when not using UTF-32 mode.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_FRAMESIZE::
Return the size (in bytes) of the data frames that are used to remember
backtracking positions when the pattern is processed by func:pcre2_match()
without the use of JIT. The third argument should point to a `size_t`
variable. The frame size depends on the number of capturing parentheses in the
pattern. Each additional capture group adds two type:PCRE2_SIZE variables.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_HASBACKSLASHC::
Return 1 if the pattern contains any instances of \C, otherwise 0. The third
argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_HASCRORLF::
Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF characters,
otherwise 0. The third argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable. An
explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or \r or \n or one of
the equivalent hexadecimal or octal escape sequences.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_HEAPLIMIT::
If the pattern set a heap memory limit by including an item of the form
[.regex]`(*LIMIT_HEAP=nnnn)` at the start, the value is returned. The third argument
should point to a uint32_t integer. If no such value has been set, the call to
func:pcre2_pattern_info() returns the error const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET. Note that this
limit will only be used during matching if it is less than the limit set or
defaulted by the caller of the match function.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_JCHANGED::
Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, otherwise
0\. The third argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable. (?J) and
(?-J) set and unset the local const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES option, respectively.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_JITSIZE::
If the compiled pattern was successfully processed by
func:pcre2_jit_compile(), return the size of the JIT compiled code, otherwise
return zero. The third argument should point to a `size_t` variable.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_LASTCODETYPE::
Returns 1 if there is a rightmost literal code unit that must exist in any
matched string, other than at its start. The third argument should point to a
`uint32_t` variable. If there is no such value, 0 is returned. When 1 is
returned, the code unit value itself can be retrieved using
const:PCRE2_INFO_LASTCODEUNIT. For anchored patterns, a last literal value is
recorded only if it follows something of variable length. For example, for the
pattern [.regex]`/^a\d+z\d+/` the returned value is 1 (with "z" returned from
const:PCRE2_INFO_LASTCODEUNIT), but for /^a\dz\d/ the returned value is 0.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_LASTCODEUNIT::
Return the value of the rightmost literal code unit that must exist in any
matched string, other than at its start, for a pattern where
const:PCRE2_INFO_LASTCODETYPE returns 1. Otherwise, return 0. The third argument
should point to a `uint32_t` variable.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_MATCHEMPTY::
Return 1 if the pattern might match an empty string, otherwise 0. The third
argument should point to a `uint32_t` variable. When a pattern contains
recursive subroutine calls it is not always possible to determine whether or
not it can match an empty string. PCRE2 takes a cautious approach and returns 1
in such cases.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_MATCHLIMIT::
If the pattern set a match limit by including an item of the form
[.regex]`(*LIMIT_MATCH=nnnn)` at the start, the value is returned. The third argument
should point to a uint32_t integer. If no such value has been set, the call to
func:pcre2_pattern_info() returns the error const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET. Note that this
limit will only be used during matching if it is less than the limit set or
defaulted by the caller of the match function.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND::
A lookbehind assertion moves back a certain number of characters (not code
units) when it starts to process each of its branches. This request returns the
largest of these backward moves. The third argument should point to a uint32_t
integer. The simple assertions \b and \B require a one-character lookbehind
and cause const:PCRE2_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND to return 1 in the absence of anything
longer. \A also registers a one-character lookbehind, though it does not
actually inspect the previous character.
Note that this information is useful for multi-segment matching only
if the pattern contains no nested lookbehinds. For example, the pattern
[.regex]`(?<=a(?<=ba)c)` returns a maximum lookbehind of 2, but when it is processed, the
first lookbehind moves back by two characters, matches one character, then the
nested lookbehind also moves back by two characters. This puts the matching
point three characters earlier than it was at the start.
const:PCRE2_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND is really only useful as a debugging tool. See the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation for a discussion of multi-segment matching.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_MINLENGTH::
If a minimum length for matching subject strings was computed, its value is
returned. Otherwise the returned value is 0. This value is not computed when
const:PCRE2_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is set. The value is a number of characters, which in
UTF mode may be different from the number of code units. The third argument
should point to a `uint32_t` variable. The value is a lower bound to the
length of any matching string. There may not be any strings of that length that
do actually match, but every string that does match is at least that long.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_NAMECOUNT::
const:PCRE2_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE::
const:PCRE2_INFO_NAMETABLE::
PCRE2 supports the use of named as well as numbered capturing parentheses. The
names are just an additional way of identifying the parentheses, which still
acquire numbers. Several convenience functions such as
func:pcre2_substring_get_byname() are provided for extracting captured
substrings by name. It is also possible to extract the data directly, by first
converting the name to a number in order to access the correct pointers in the
output vector (described with func:pcre2_match() below). To do the conversion,
you need to use the name-to-number map, which is described by these three
values.
The map consists of a number of fixed-size entries. const:PCRE2_INFO_NAMECOUNT gives
the number of entries, and const:PCRE2_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE gives the size of each
two bytes of each entry are the number of the capturing parenthesis, most
significant byte first. In the 16-bit library, the pointer points to 16-bit
code units, the first of which contains the parenthesis number. In the 32-bit
library, the pointer points to 32-bit code units, the first of which contains
the parenthesis number. The rest of the entry is the corresponding name, zero
terminated.
The names are in alphabetical order. If (?| is used to create multiple capture
groups with the same number, as described in the
section on duplicate group numbers
in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page, the groups may be given the same name, but there is only one entry in the
table. Different names for groups of the same number are not permitted.
Duplicate names for capture groups with different numbers are permitted, but
only if const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES is set. They appear in the table in the order in which
they were found in the pattern. In the absence of (?| this is the order of
increasing number; when (?| is used this is not necessarily the case because
later capture groups may have lower numbers.
As a simple example of the name/number table, consider the following pattern
after compilation by the 8-bit library (assume const:PCRE2_EXTENDED is set, so white
space - including newlines - is ignored):
[source,regex]
....
(?<date> (?<year>(\d\d)?\d\d) -
(?<month>\d\d) - (?<day>\d\d) )
....
There are four named capture groups, so the table has four entries, and each
entry in the table is eight bytes long. The table is as follows, with
non-printing bytes shows in hexadecimal, and undefined bytes shown as ??:
[source,text,role=binary-layout]
....
00 01 d a t e 00 ??
00 05 d a y 00 ?? ??
00 04 m o n t h 00
00 02 y e a r 00 ??
....
When writing code to extract data from named capture groups using the
name-to-number map, remember that the length of the entries is likely to be
different for each compiled pattern.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_NEWLINE::
The output is one of the following `uint32_t` values:
[.values]
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_CR::
Carriage return (CR)
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_LF::
Linefeed (LF)
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_CRLF::
Carriage return, linefeed (CRLF)
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANY::
Any Unicode line ending
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF::
Any of CR, LF, or CRLF
const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_NUL::
The NUL character (binary zero)
This identifies the character sequence that will be recognized as meaning
"newline" while matching.
[.values]
const:PCRE2_INFO_SIZE::
Return the size of the compiled pattern in bytes (for all three libraries). The
third argument should point to a `size_t` variable. This value includes the
size of the general data block that precedes the code units of the compiled
pattern itself. The value that is used when func:pcre2_compile() is getting
memory in which to place the compiled pattern may be slightly larger than the
value returned by this option, because there are cases where the code that
calculates the size has to over-estimate. Processing a pattern with the JIT
compiler does not alter the value returned by this option.
== Information about a pattern's callouts
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_callout_enumerate(
const pcre2_code *code,
int (*callback)(pcre2_callout_enumerate_block *callout_block,
void *callout_data),
void *callout_data);
----
A script language that supports the use of string arguments in callouts might
like to scan all the callouts in a pattern before running the match. This can
be done by calling func:pcre2_callout_enumerate(). The first argument is a
pointer to a compiled pattern, the second points to a callback function, and
the third is arbitrary user data. The callback function is called for every
callout in the pattern in the order in which they appear. Its first argument is
a pointer to a callout enumeration block, and its second argument is the
arg:user_data value that was passed to func:pcre2_callout_enumerate(). The
contents of the callout enumeration block are described in the
xref:pcre2callout.adoc[`pcre2callout`]
documentation, which also gives further details about callouts.
== Serialization and precompiling
It is possible to save compiled patterns on disc or elsewhere, and reload them
later, subject to a number of restrictions. The host on which the patterns are
reloaded must be running the same version of PCRE2, with the same code unit
width, and must also have the same endianness, pointer width, and type:PCRE2_SIZE
type. Before compiled patterns can be saved, they must be converted to a
"serialized" form, which in the case of PCRE2 is really just a bytecode dump.
The functions whose names begin with [.c]`pcre2_serialize_` are used for
converting to and from the serialized form. They are described in the
xref:pcre2serialize.adoc[`pcre2serialize`]
documentation. Note that PCRE2 serialization does not convert compiled patterns
to an abstract format like Java or .NET serialization.
== The match data block
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
pcre2_match_data *pcre2_match_data_create(
uint32_t oveccount, pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
pcre2_match_data *pcre2_match_data_create_from_pattern(
const pcre2_code *code, pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_match_data_free(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
Information about a successful or unsuccessful match is placed in a match
data block, which is an opaque structure that is accessed by function calls. In
particular, the match data block contains a vector of offsets into the subject
string that define the matched parts of the subject. This is known as the
_ovector_.
Before calling func:pcre2_match(), func:pcre2_dfa_match(), or
func:pcre2_jit_match() you must create a match data block by calling one of
the creation functions above. For func:pcre2_match_data_create(), the first
argument is the number of pairs of offsets in the _ovector_.
When using func:pcre2_match(), one pair of offsets is required to identify the
string that matched the whole pattern, with an additional pair for each
captured substring. For example, a value of 4 creates enough space to record
the matched portion of the subject plus three captured substrings.
When using func:pcre2_dfa_match() there may be multiple matched substrings of
different lengths at the same point in the subject. The ovector should be made
large enough to hold as many as are expected.
A minimum of at least 1 pair is imposed by func:pcre2_match_data_create(), so
it is always possible to return the overall matched string in the case of
func:pcre2_match() or the longest match in the case of
func:pcre2_dfa_match(). The maximum number of pairs is 65535; if the first
argument of func:pcre2_match_data_create() is greater than this, 65535 is
used.
The second argument of func:pcre2_match_data_create() is a pointer to a
general context, which can specify custom memory management for obtaining the
memory for the match data block. If you are not using custom memory management,
pass [.c]`NULL`, which causes [.c]`malloc()` to be used.
For func:pcre2_match_data_create_from_pattern(), the first argument is a
pointer to a compiled pattern. The ovector is created to be exactly the right
size to hold all the substrings a pattern might capture when matched using
func:pcre2_match(). You should not use this call when matching with
func:pcre2_dfa_match(). The second argument is again a pointer to a general
context, but in this case if [.c]`NULL` is passed, the memory is obtained using the
same allocator that was used for the compiled pattern (custom or default).
A match data block can be used many times, with the same or different compiled
patterns. You can extract information from a match data block after a match
operation has finished, using functions that are described in the sections on
matched strings
and
other match data
below.
When a call of func:pcre2_match() fails, valid data is available in the match
block only when the error is const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH, const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL, or one
of the error codes for an invalid UTF string. Exactly what is available depends
on the error, and is detailed below.
When one of the matching functions is called, pointers to the compiled pattern
and the subject string are set in the match data block so that they can be
referenced by the extraction functions after a successful match. After running
a match, you must not free a compiled pattern or a subject string until after
all operations on the match data block (for that match) have taken place,
unless, in the case of the subject string, you have used the
const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT option, which is described in the section entitled
"Option bits for func:pcre2_match()"
below.
When a match data block itself is no longer needed, it should be freed by
calling func:pcre2_match_data_free(). If this function is called with a [.c]`NULL`
argument, it returns immediately, without doing anything.
== Memory use for match data blocks
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_match_data_size(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_match_data_heapframes_size(
pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
The size of a match data block depends on the size of the ovector that it
contains. The function func:pcre2_get_match_data_size() returns the size, in
bytes, of the block that is its argument.
When func:pcre2_match() runs interpretively (that is, without using JIT), it
makes use of a vector of data frames for remembering backtracking positions.
The size of each individual frame depends on the number of capturing
parentheses in the pattern and can be obtained by calling
func:pcre2_pattern_info() with the const:PCRE2_INFO_FRAMESIZE option (see the
section entitled "Information about a compiled pattern"
above).
Heap memory is used for the frames vector; if the initial memory block turns
out to be too small during matching, it is automatically expanded. When
func:pcre2_match() returns, the memory is not freed, but remains attached to
the match data block, for use by any subsequent matches that use the same
block. It is automatically freed when the match data block itself is freed.
You can find the current size of the frames vector that a match data block owns
by calling func:pcre2_get_match_data_heapframes_size(). For a newly created
match data block the size will be zero. Some types of match may require a lot
of frames and thus a large vector; applications that run in environments where
memory is constrained can check this and free the match data block if the heap
frames vector has become too big.
== Matching a pattern: the traditional function
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
----
The function func:pcre2_match() is called to match a subject string against a
compiled pattern, which is passed in the arg:code argument. You can call
func:pcre2_match() with the same arg:code argument as many times as you
like, in order to find multiple matches in the subject string or to match
different subject strings with the same pattern.
This function is the main matching facility of the library, and it operates in
a Perl-like manner. For specialist use there is also an alternative matching
function, which is described
below
in the section about the func:pcre2_dfa_match() function.
Here is an example of a simple call to func:pcre2_match():
[source,c]
----
pcre2_match_data *md = pcre2_match_data_create(4, NULL);
int rc = pcre2_match(
re, /* result of pcre2_compile() */
"some string", /* the subject string */
11, /* the length of the subject string */
0, /* start at offset 0 in the subject */
0, /* default options */
md, /* the match data block */
NULL); /* a match context; NULL means use defaults */
----
If the subject string is zero-terminated, the length can be given as
const:PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED. A match context must be provided if certain less common
matching parameters are to be changed. For details, see the section on
the match context
above.
=== The string to be matched by func:pcre2_match()
The subject string is passed to func:pcre2_match() as a pointer in
arg:subject, a length in arg:length, and a starting offset in
arg:start_offset. The length and offset are in code units, not characters.
That is, they are in bytes for the 8-bit library, 16-bit code units for the
16-bit library, and 32-bit code units for the 32-bit library, whether or not
UTF processing is enabled. As a special case, if arg:subject is [.c]`NULL` and
arg:length is zero, the subject is assumed to be an empty string. If
arg:length is non-zero, an error occurs if arg:subject is [.c]`NULL`.
If arg:start_offset is greater than the length of the subject,
func:pcre2_match() returns const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOFFSET. When the starting offset is
zero, the search for a match starts at the beginning of the subject, and this
is by far the most common case. In UTF-8 or UTF-16 mode, the starting offset
must point to the start of a character, or to the end of the subject (in UTF-32
mode, one code unit equals one character, so all offsets are valid). Like the
pattern string, the subject may contain binary zeros.
A non-zero starting offset is useful when searching for another match in the
same subject by calling func:pcre2_match() again after a previous success.
Setting arg:start_offset differs from passing over a shortened string and
setting const:PCRE2_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern that begins with any kind of
lookbehind. For example, consider the pattern
[source,regex]
----
\Biss\B
----
which finds occurrences of [.c]`"iss"` in the middle of words. ([.regex]`\B` matches only if
the current position in the subject is not a word boundary.) When applied to
the string [.c]`"Mississippi"` the first call to func:pcre2_match() finds the first
occurrence. If func:pcre2_match() is called again with just the remainder of
the subject, namely [.c]`"issippi"`, it does not match, because [.regex]`\B` is always false
at the start of the subject, which is deemed to be a word boundary. However, if
func:pcre2_match() is passed the entire string again, but with
arg:start_offset set to [.c]`4`, it finds the second occurrence of `iss` because it
is able to look behind the starting point to discover that it is preceded by a
letter.
Finding all the matches in a subject is tricky when the pattern can match an
empty string. PCRE2 includes a helper API to assist with this; see the
section entitled "Iterating over all matches"
below
for details.
If a non-zero starting offset is passed when the pattern is anchored, a single
attempt to match at the given offset is made. This can only succeed if the
pattern does not require the match to be at the start of the subject. In other
words, the anchoring must be the result of setting the const:PCRE2_ANCHORED option or
the use of [.regex]`*` with const:PCRE2_DOTALL, not by starting the pattern with [.regex]`^` or [.regex]`\A`.
=== Option bits for func:pcre2_match()
The unused bits of the arg:options argument for func:pcre2_match() must be
zero. The only bits that may be set are const:PCRE2_ANCHORED,
const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT, const:PCRE2_DISABLE_RECURSELOOP_CHECK, const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED,
const:PCRE2_NOTBOL, const:PCRE2_NOTEOL, const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY, const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART,
const:PCRE2_NO_JIT, const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK, const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD, and const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT.
Their action is described below.
Setting const:PCRE2_ANCHORED or const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED at match time is not supported by
the just-in-time (JIT) compiler. If it is set, JIT matching is disabled and the
interpretive code in func:pcre2_match() is run.
const:PCRE2_DISABLE_RECURSELOOP_CHECK is ignored by JIT, but apart from const:PCRE2_NO_JIT
(obviously), the remaining options are supported for JIT matching.
[.options]
const:PCRE2_ANCHORED::
The const:PCRE2_ANCHORED option limits func:pcre2_match() to matching at the first
matching position. If a pattern was compiled with const:PCRE2_ANCHORED, or turned out
to be anchored by virtue of its contents, it cannot be made unanchored at
matching time. Note that setting the option at match time disables JIT
matching.
const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT::
By default, a pointer to the subject is remembered in the match data block so
that, after a successful match, it can be referenced by the substring
extraction functions. This means that the subject's memory must not be freed
until all such operations are complete. For some applications where the
lifetime of the subject string is not guaranteed, it may be necessary to make a
copy of the subject string, but it is wasteful to do this unless the match is
successful. After a successful match, if const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT is set, the
subject is copied and the new pointer is remembered in the match data block
instead of the original subject pointer. The memory allocator that was used for
the match block itself is used. The copy is automatically freed when
func:pcre2_match_data_free() is called to free the match data block. It is also
automatically freed if the match data block is re-used for another match
operation.
const:PCRE2_DISABLE_RECURSELOOP_CHECK::
This option is relevant only to func:pcre2_match() for interpretive matching.
It is ignored when JIT is used, and is forbidden for func:pcre2_dfa_match().
The use of recursion in patterns can lead to infinite loops. In the
interpretive matcher these would be eventually caught by the match or heap
limits, but this could take a long time and/or use a lot of memory if the
limits are large. There is therefore a check at the start of each recursion.
If the same group is still active from a previous call, and the current subject
pointer is the same as it was at the start of that group, and the furthest
inspected character of the subject has not changed, an error is generated.
There are rare cases of matches that would complete, but nevertheless trigger
this error. This option disables the check. It is provided mainly for testing
when comparing JIT and interpretive behaviour.
const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED::
If the const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED option is set, any string that func:pcre2_match()
matches must be right at the end of the subject string. Note that setting the
option at match time disables JIT matching.
const:PCRE2_NOTBOL::
This option specifies that first character of the subject string is not the
beginning of a line, so the circumflex metacharacter should not match before
it. Setting this without having set const:PCRE2_MULTILINE at compile time causes
circumflex never to match. This option affects only the behaviour of the
circumflex metacharacter. It does not affect [.regex]`\A`.
const:PCRE2_NOTEOL::
This option specifies that the end of the subject string is not the end of a
line, so the dollar metacharacter should not match it nor (except in multiline
mode) a newline immediately before it. Setting this without having set
const:PCRE2_MULTILINE at compile time causes dollar never to match. This option
affects only the behaviour of the dollar metacharacter. It does not affect [.regex]`\Z`
or [.regex]`\z`.
const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY::
An empty string is not considered to be a valid match if this option is set. If
there are alternatives in the pattern, they are tried. If all the alternatives
match the empty string, the entire match fails. For example, if the pattern
[.regex]`a?b?`
is applied to a string not beginning with "a" or "b", it matches an empty
string at the start of the subject. With const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY set, this match is not
valid, so func:pcre2_match() searches further into the string for occurrences
of "a" or "b".
const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART::
This is like const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY, except that it locks out an empty string match
only at the first matching position, that is, at the start of the subject plus
the starting offset. An empty string match later in the subject is permitted.
If the pattern is anchored, such a match can occur only if the pattern contains
[.regex]`\K`.
const:PCRE2_NO_JIT::
By default, if a pattern has been successfully processed by
func:pcre2_jit_compile(), JIT is automatically used when func:pcre2_match()
is called with options that JIT supports. Setting const:PCRE2_NO_JIT disables the use
of JIT; it forces matching to be done by the interpreter.
const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK::
When const:PCRE2_UTF is set at compile time, the validity of the subject as a UTF
string is checked unless const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK is passed to func:pcre2_match() or
const:PCRE2_MATCH_INVALID_UTF was passed to func:pcre2_compile(). The latter special
case is discussed in detail in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
documentation.
In the default case, if a non-zero starting offset is given, the check is
applied only to that part of the subject that could be inspected during
matching, and there is a check that the starting offset points to the first
code unit of a character or to the end of the subject. If there are no
lookbehind assertions in the pattern, the check starts at the starting offset.
Otherwise, it starts at the length of the longest lookbehind before the
starting offset, or at the start of the subject if there are not that many
characters before the starting offset. Note that the sequences [.regex]`\b` and [.regex]`\B` are
one-character lookbehinds.
The check is carried out before any other processing takes place, and a
negative error code is returned if the check fails. There are several UTF error
codes for each code unit width, corresponding to different problems with the
code unit sequence. There are discussions about the validity of
UTF-8 strings,
UTF-16 strings,
and
UTF-32 strings
in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
documentation.
If you know that your subject is valid, and you want to skip this check for
performance reasons, you can set the const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK option when calling
func:pcre2_match(). You might want to do this for the second and subsequent
calls to func:pcre2_match() if you are making repeated calls to find multiple
matches in the same subject string.
[WARNING]
====
Unless const:PCRE2_MATCH_INVALID_UTF was set at compile time, when
const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK is set at match time the effect of passing an invalid
string as a subject, or an invalid value of arg:start_offset, is undefined.
Your program may crash or loop indefinitely or give wrong results.
====
const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD::
const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT::
These options turn on the partial matching feature. A partial match occurs if
the end of the subject string is reached successfully, but there are not enough
subject characters to complete the match. In addition, either at least one
character must have been inspected or the pattern must contain a lookbehind, or
the pattern must be one that could match an empty string.
If this situation arises when const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT (but not const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD)
is set, matching continues by testing any remaining alternatives. Only if no
complete match can be found is const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL returned instead of
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH. In other words, const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT specifies that the
caller is prepared to handle a partial match, but only if no complete match can
be found.
If const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD is set, it overrides const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT. In this case, if
a partial match is found, func:pcre2_match() immediately returns
const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL, without considering any other alternatives. In other
words, when const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD is set, a partial match is considered to be more
important than an alternative complete match.
There is a more detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with
examples, in the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation.
== Newline handling when matching
When PCRE2 is built, a default newline convention is set; this is usually the
standard convention for the operating system. The default can be overridden in
a
compile context
by calling func:pcre2_set_newline(). It can also be overridden by starting a
pattern string with, for example, ([.regex]`*CRLF`), as described in the
section on newline conventions
in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page. During matching, the newline choice affects the behaviour of the dot,
circumflex, and dollar metacharacters. It may also alter the way the match
starting position is advanced after a match failure for an unanchored pattern.
When const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_CRLF, const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF, or const:PCRE2_NEWLINE_ANY is set as
the newline convention, and a match attempt for an unanchored pattern fails
when the current starting position is at a `CRLF` sequence, and the pattern
contains no explicit matches for `CR` or `LF` characters, the match position is
advanced by two characters instead of one, in other words, to after the `CRLF`.
The above rule is a compromise that makes the most common cases work as
expected. For example, if the pattern is [.regex]`.+A` (and the const:PCRE2_DOTALL option is
not set), it does not match the string [.c]`"\r\nA"` because, after failing at the
start, it skips both the `CR` and the `LF` before retrying. However, the pattern
[.regex]`[\r\n]A` does match that string, because it contains an explicit `CR` or `LF`
reference, and so advances only by one character after the first failure.
An explicit match for `CR` of `LF` is either a literal appearance of one of those
characters in the pattern, or one of the [.regex]`\r` or [.regex]`\n` or equivalent octal or
hexadecimal escape sequences. Implicit matches such as [.regex]`[^X]` do not count, nor
does [.regex]`\s`, even though it includes `CR` and `LF` in the characters that it matches.
Notwithstanding the above, anomalous effects may still occur when `CRLF` is a
valid newline sequence and explicit [.regex]`\r` or [.regex]`\n` escapes appear in the pattern.
== How func:pcre2_match() returns a string and captured substrings
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
uint32_t pcre2_get_ovector_count(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE *pcre2_get_ovector_pointer(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
In general, a pattern matches a certain portion of the subject, and in
addition, further substrings from the subject may be picked out by
parenthesized parts of the pattern. Following the usage in Jeffrey Friedl's
book, this is called "capturing" in what follows, and the phrase "capture
group" (Perl terminology) is used for a fragment of a pattern that picks out a
substring. PCRE2 supports several other kinds of parenthesized group that do
not cause substrings to be captured. The func:pcre2_pattern_info() function
can be used to find out how many capture groups there are in a compiled
pattern.
You can use auxiliary functions for accessing captured substrings
by number
or
by name,
as described in sections below.
Alternatively, you can make direct use of the vector of type:PCRE2_SIZE values,
called the `ovector`, which contains the offsets of captured strings. It is
part of the
match data block.
The function func:pcre2_get_ovector_pointer() returns the address of the
`ovector`, and func:pcre2_get_ovector_count() returns the number of pairs of
values it contains.
Within the ovector, the first in each pair of values is set to the offset of
the first code unit of a substring, and the second is set to the offset of the
first code unit after the end of a substring. These values are always code unit
offsets, not character offsets. That is, they are byte offsets in the 8-bit
library, 16-bit offsets in the 16-bit library, and 32-bit offsets in the 32-bit
library.
After a partial match (error return const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL), only the first pair
of offsets (that is, [.c]`ovector[0]` and [.c]`ovector[1]`) are set. They
identify the part of the subject that was partially matched. See the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation for details of partial matching.
After a fully successful match, the first pair of offsets identifies the
portion of the subject string that was matched by the entire pattern. The next
pair is used for the first captured substring, and so on. The value returned by
func:pcre2_match() is one more than the highest numbered pair that has been
set. For example, if two substrings have been captured, the returned value is
[.c]`3`. If there are no captured substrings, the return value from a successful
match is [.c]`1`, indicating that just the first pair of offsets has been set.
If a pattern uses the [.regex]`\K` escape sequence within a positive lookahead assertion,
the reported start of a successful match can be greater than the end of the
match. For example, if the pattern [.regex]`(?=ab\K)` is matched against [.c]`"ab"`, the start
and end offset values for the match are [.c]`2` and [.c]`0`.
If a capture group is matched repeatedly within a single match operation, it is
the last portion of the subject that it matched that is returned.
If the ovector is too small to hold all the captured substring offsets, as much
as possible is filled in, and the function returns a value of zero. If captured
substrings are not of interest, func:pcre2_match() may be called with a match
data block whose ovector is of minimum length (that is, one pair).
It is possible for capture group number _n+1_ to match some part of the
subject when group _n_ has not been used at all. For example, if the string
"abc" is matched against the pattern [.regex]`(a|(z[)](bc)` the return from the function
is 4, and groups 1 and 3 are matched, but 2 is not. When this happens, both
values in the offset pairs corresponding to unused groups are set to
const:PCRE2_UNSET.
Offset values that correspond to unused groups at the end of the expression are
also set to const:PCRE2_UNSET. For example, if the string "abc" is matched against
the pattern (abc)(x(yz)?)? groups 2 and 3 are not matched. The return from the
function is 2, because the highest used capture group number is 1. The offsets
for the second and third capture groups (assuming the vector is large enough,
of course) are set to const:PCRE2_UNSET.
Elements in the ovector that do not correspond to capturing parentheses in the
pattern are never changed. That is, if a pattern contains _n_ capturing
parentheses, no more than [.c]`ovector[0]` to [.c]`ovector[2n+1]` are set by
func:pcre2_match(). The other elements retain whatever values they previously
had. After a failed match attempt, the contents of the ovector are unchanged.
== Other information about a match
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
PCRE2_SPTR pcre2_get_mark(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
PCRE2_SIZE pcre2_get_startchar(pcre2_match_data *match_data);
----
As well as the offsets in the ovector, other information about a match is
retained in the match data block and can be retrieved by the above functions in
appropriate circumstances. If they are called at other times, the result is
undefined.
After a successful match, a partial match (const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL), or a failure
to match (const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH), a mark name may be available. The function
func:pcre2_get_mark() can be called to access this name, which can be
specified in the pattern by any of the backtracking control verbs, not just
( [.regex]`*MARK`). The same function applies to all the verbs. It returns a pointer to
the zero-terminated name, which is within the compiled pattern. If no name is
available, [.c]`NULL` is returned. The length of the name (excluding the terminating
zero) is stored in the code unit that precedes the name. You should use this
length instead of relying on the terminating zero if the name might contain a
binary zero.
After a successful match, the name that is returned is the last mark name
encountered on the matching path through the pattern. Instances of backtracking
verbs without names do not count. Thus, for example, if the matching path
contains ([.regex]`*MARK:A`)([.regex]`*PRUNE`), the name "A" is returned. After a "no match" or a
partial match, the last encountered name is returned. For example, consider
this pattern:
[source,regex]
----
^(*MARK:A)((*MARK:B)a|b)c
----
When it matches "bc", the returned name is A. The B mark is "seen" in the first
branch of the group, but it is not on the matching path. On the other hand,
when this pattern fails to match "bx", the returned name is B.
[WARNING]
====
By default, certain start-of-match optimizations are used to
give a fast "no match" result in some situations. For example, if the anchoring
is removed from the pattern above, there is an initial check for the presence
of "c" in the subject before running the matching engine. This check fails for
"bx", causing a match failure without seeing any marks. You can disable the
start-of-match optimizations by setting the const:PCRE2_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option for
func:pcre2_compile() or by starting the pattern with ([.regex]`*NO_START_OPT`).
====
After a successful match, a partial match, or one of the invalid UTF errors
(for example, const:PCRE2_ERROR_UTF8_ERR5), func:pcre2_get_startchar() can be
called. After a successful or partial match it returns the code unit offset of
the character at which the match started. For a non-partial match, this can be
different to the value of [.c]`ovector[0]` if the pattern contains the [.regex]`\K`
escape sequence. After a partial match, however, this value is always the same
as [.c]`ovector[0]` because [.regex]`\K` does not affect the result of a partial match.
After a UTF check failure, func:pcre2_get_startchar() can be used to obtain
the code unit offset of the invalid UTF character. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
page.
== Error returns from func:pcre2_match()
If func:pcre2_match() fails, it returns a negative number. This can be
converted to a text string by calling the func:pcre2_get_error_message()
function (see "Obtaining a textual error message"
below).
Negative error codes are also returned by other functions, and are documented
with them. The codes are given names in the header file. If UTF checking is in
force and an invalid UTF subject string is detected, one of a number of
UTF-specific negative error codes is returned. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2unicode.adoc[`pcre2unicode`]
page. The following are the other errors that may be returned by
func:pcre2_match():
.Errors
[.errors]
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH::
The subject string did not match the pattern.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL::
The subject string did not match, but it did match partially. See the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation for details of partial matching.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADMAGIC::
PCRE2 stores a 4-byte "magic number" at the start of the compiled code, to
catch the case when it is passed a junk pointer. This is the error that is
returned when the magic number is not present.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADMODE::
This error is given when a compiled pattern is passed to a function in a
library of a different code unit width, for example, a pattern compiled by
the 8-bit library is passed to a 16-bit or 32-bit library function.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOFFSET::
The value of arg:start_offset was greater than the length of the subject.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOPTION::
An unrecognized bit was set in the arg:options argument.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADUTFOFFSET::
The UTF code unit sequence that was passed as a subject was checked and found
to be valid (the const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK option was not set), but the value of
arg:start_offset did not point to the beginning of a UTF character or the end
of the subject.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_CALLOUT::
This error is never generated by func:pcre2_match() itself. It is provided for
use by callout functions that want to cause func:pcre2_match() or
func:pcre2_callout_enumerate() to return a distinctive error code. See the
xref:pcre2callout.adoc[`pcre2callout`]
documentation for details.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_DEPTHLIMIT::
The nested backtracking depth limit was reached.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_HEAPLIMIT::
The heap limit was reached.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_INTERNAL::
An unexpected internal error has occurred. This error could be caused by a bug
in PCRE2 or by overwriting of the compiled pattern.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_JIT_STACKLIMIT::
This error is returned when a pattern that was successfully studied using JIT
is being matched, but the memory available for the just-in-time processing
stack is not large enough. See the
xref:pcre2jit.adoc[`pcre2jit`]
documentation for more details.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT::
The backtracking match limit was reached.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY::
Heap memory is used to remember backtracking points. This error is given when
the memory allocation function (default or custom) fails. Note that a different
error, const:PCRE2_ERROR_HEAPLIMIT, is given if the amount of memory needed exceeds
the heap limit. const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY is also returned if
const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT is set and memory allocation fails.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NULL::
Either the arg:code, arg:subject, or arg:match_data argument was passed
as [.c]`NULL`.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_RECURSELOOP::
This error is returned when func:pcre2_match() detects a recursion loop within
the pattern. Specifically, it means that either the whole pattern or a
capture group has been called recursively for the second time at the same
position in the subject string. Some simple patterns that might do this are
detected and faulted at compile time, but more complicated cases, in particular
mutual recursions between two different groups, cannot be detected until
matching is attempted.
== Obtaining a textual error message
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_get_error_message(int errorcode, PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE bufflen);
----
A text message for an error code from any PCRE2 function (compile, match, or
auxiliary) can be obtained by calling func:pcre2_get_error_message(). The code
is passed as the first argument, with the remaining two arguments specifying a
code unit buffer and its length in code units, into which the text message is
placed. The message is returned in code units of the appropriate width for the
library that is being used.
The returned message is terminated with a trailing zero, and the function
returns the number of code units used, excluding the trailing zero. If the
error number is unknown, the negative error code const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADDATA is
returned. If the buffer is too small, the message is truncated (but still with
a trailing zero), and the negative error code const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY is returned.
None of the messages is very long; a buffer size of 120 code units is ample.
== Iterating over all matches
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_next_match(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SIZE *pstart_offset, uint32_t *poptions);
----
A common task for applications is to implement "global" matching behaviour,
for example, replacing all matches in the subject; splitting the subject on all
matches; or simply counting the number of matches. The func:pcre2_next_match()
function helps with this task by providing the appropriate parameters for the
next match attempt (available since PCRE2 10.47).
First, a match attempt should be made using one of the matching functions
(func:pcre2_match(), func:pcre2_dfa_match(), or func:pcre2_jit_match()).
Then, func:pcre2_next_match() can be called, providing the same
arg:match_data parameter.
It returns 0 ("false") if there is no need to make a further match attempt, or
1 ("true") if another match should be attempted. Returning 1 does not imply that
there is another match, only that another match should be attempted (which may
return const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH).
The [.c]`*pstart_offset` and [.c]`*poptions` are set if the function returns 1.
The [.c]`*pstart_offset` should be passed to the next match attempt directly,
and the [.c]`*poptions` should be passed to the next match attempt by combining
with the application's match options using OR.
There is some code that demonstrates how to do this in the
xref:pcre2demo.adoc[`pcre2demo`]
sample program. The general pattern is:
[source,c]
----
uint32_t app_options = ...;
uint32_t global_options = 0;
PCRE2_SIZE start_offset = 0;
while (1)
{
int rc = pcre2_match(re, subject, subject_len, start_offset,
app_options | global_options, match_data,
match_context);
if (rc == PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH) break; /* no match, and no more attempts */
if (rc < 0) { ... exit }
...handle the match
if (!pcre2_next_match(match_data, &start_offset, &global_options))
break; /* no more attempts */
}
----
The guarantees provided by func:pcre2_next_match() are that the [.c]`start_offset`
will advance, so the loop will definitely terminate. The conditions which
ensure this are that either:
* func:pcre2_next_match() returns 0 (false); or
* the returned [.c]`*pstart_offset` is strictly greater than the previous
[.c]`start_offset`; or
* if the previous match was a successful match of the empty string, the returned
[.c]`*pstart_offset` is equal to the previous [.c]`ovector[1]`, and [.c]`*poptions`
will be set to const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART to prevent another empty match from
being returned.
A loop implemented as shown above will always terminate, unless there is a bug
in PCRE2. As a measure of "defensive programming", applications are encouraged
to add an assertion or check to break their loop if it does not make progress
(and report the issue as a bug).
If an application does not use the flag const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK, then
each match is "well-behaved" and satisfies:
[source,c]
....
start_offset <= ovector[0] <= ovector[1].
....
In this case, the matches found by func:pcre2_match() with func:pcre2_next_match() will be
sorted, non-overlapping (possibly touching), and with no duplicates.
Otherwise, if const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK is used, then the guarantees are
considerably weaker. We do not guarantee that the matches will always advance:
only that the arg:start_offset will. The matches found by func:pcre2_match() with
func:pcre2_next_match() will be a finite sequence (as func:pcre2_next_match() ensures that
arg:start_offset advances, so the search will terminate). The matches can however be
overlapping, can contain duplicates, and (in truly pathological examples) may
not even be sorted by [.c]`ovector[0]`. Additionally, each match itself can end before
it starts ([.c]`ovector[1] < ovector[0]`). We recommend that applications do not set
const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK.
== Extracting captured substrings by number
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substring_length_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_get_bynumber(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
uint32_t stringnumber,
PCRE2_UCHAR **stringptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
void pcre2_substring_free(PCRE2_UCHAR *string);
----
Captured substrings can be accessed directly by using the ovector as described
above.
For convenience, auxiliary functions are provided for extracting captured
substrings as new, separate, zero-terminated strings. A substring that contains
a binary zero is correctly extracted and has a further zero added on the end,
but the result is not, of course, a C string.
The functions in this section identify substrings by number. The number zero
refers to the entire matched substring, with higher numbers referring to
substrings captured by parenthesized groups. After a partial match, only
substring zero is available. An attempt to extract any other substring gives
the error const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL. The next section describes similar functions for
extracting captured substrings by name.
If a pattern uses the [.regex]`\K` escape sequence within a positive lookahead assertion,
the reported start of a successful match can be greater than the end of the
match. For example, if the pattern [.regex]`(?=ab\K)` is matched against "ab", the start
and end offset values for the match are 2 and 0. In this situation, calling
these functions with a zero substring number extracts a zero-length empty
string.
You can find the length in code units of a captured substring without
extracting it by calling func:pcre2_substring_length_bynumber(). The first
argument is a pointer to the match data block, the second is the group number,
and the third is a pointer to a variable into which the length is placed. If
you just want to know whether or not the substring has been captured, you can
pass the third argument as NULL.
The func:pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber() function copies a captured substring
into a supplied buffer, whereas func:pcre2_substring_get_bynumber() copies it
into new memory, obtained using the same memory allocation function that was
used for the match data block. The first two arguments of these functions are a
pointer to the match data block and a capture group number.
The final arguments of func:pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber() are a pointer to
the buffer and a pointer to a variable that contains its length in code units.
This is updated to contain the actual number of code units used for the
extracted substring, excluding the terminating zero.
For func:pcre2_substring_get_bynumber() the third and fourth arguments point
to variables that are updated with a pointer to the new memory and the number
of code units that comprise the substring, again excluding the terminating
zero. When the substring is no longer needed, the memory should be freed by
calling func:pcre2_substring_free().
The return value from all these functions is zero for success, or a negative
error code. If the pattern match failed, the match failure code is returned.
If a substring number greater than zero is used after a partial match,
const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL is returned. Other possible error codes are:
[source,c,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY
....
The buffer was too small for func:pcre2_substring_copy_bynumber(), or the
attempt to get memory failed for func:pcre2_substring_get_bynumber().
[source,c,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING
....
There is no substring with that number in the pattern, that is, the number is
greater than the number of capturing parentheses.
[source,c,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_UNAVAILABLE
....
The substring number, though not greater than the number of captures in the
pattern, is greater than the number of slots in the ovector, so the substring
could not be captured.
[source,c,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET
....
The substring did not participate in the match. For example, if the pattern is
[.regex]`(abc)|(def)` and the subject is "def", and the ovector contains at least two
capturing slots, substring number 1 is unset.
== Extracting a list of all captured substrings
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substring_list_get(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_UCHAR ***listptr,
PCRE2_SIZE **lengthsptr);
void pcre2_substring_list_free(PCRE2_UCHAR **list);
----
The func:pcre2_substring_list_get() function extracts all available substrings
and builds a list of pointers to them. It also (optionally) builds a second
list that contains their lengths (in code units), excluding a terminating zero
that is added to each of them. All this is done in a single block of memory
that is obtained using the same memory allocation function that was used to get
the match data block.
This function must be called only after a successful match. If called after a
partial match, the error code const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL is returned.
The address of the memory block is returned via arg:listptr, which is also
the start of the list of string pointers. The end of the list is marked by a
NULL pointer. The address of the list of lengths is returned via
arg:lengthsptr. If your strings do not contain binary zeros and you do not
therefore need the lengths, you may supply NULL as the arg:lengthsptr
argument to disable the creation of a list of lengths. The yield of the
function is zero if all went well, or const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY if the memory block
could not be obtained. When the list is no longer needed, it should be freed by
calling func:pcre2_substring_list_free().
If this function encounters a substring that is unset, which can happen when
capture group number _n+1_ matches some part of the subject, but group
_n_ has not been used at all, it returns an empty string. This can be
distinguished from a genuine zero-length substring by inspecting the
appropriate offset in the arg:ovector, which contain const:PCRE2_UNSET for unset
substrings, or by calling func:pcre2_substring_length_bynumber().
== Extracting captured substrings by name
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substring_number_from_name(const pcre2_code *code,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname);
int pcre2_substring_length_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_copy_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
int pcre2_substring_get_byname(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_UCHAR **stringptr,
PCRE2_SIZE *sizeptr);
void pcre2_substring_free(PCRE2_UCHAR *string);
----
To extract a substring by name, you first have to find associated number.
For example, for this pattern:
[source,regex]
....
(a+)b(?<xxx>\d+)...
....
the number of the capture group called "xxx" is 2. If the name is known to be
unique (const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES was not set), you can find the number from the name by
calling func:pcre2_substring_number_from_name(). The first argument is the
compiled pattern, and the second is the name. The yield of the function is the
group number, const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING if there is no group with that name, or
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOUNIQUESUBSTRING if there is more than one group with that name.
Given the number, you can extract the substring directly from the ovector, or
use one of the "bynumber" functions described above.
For convenience, there are also "byname" functions that correspond to the
"bynumber" functions, the only difference being that the second argument is a
name instead of a number. If const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES is set and there are duplicate
names, these functions scan all the groups with the given name, and return the
captured substring from the first named group that is set.
If there are no groups with the given name, const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING is
returned. If all groups with the name have numbers that are greater than the
number of slots in the ovector, const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNAVAILABLE is returned. If there
is at least one group with a slot in the ovector, but no group is found to be
set, const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET is returned.
[WARNING]
====
If the pattern uses the [.regex]`(?|` feature to set up multiple
capture groups with the same number, as described in the
section on duplicate group numbers
in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page, you cannot use names to distinguish the different capture groups, because
names are not included in the compiled code. The matching process uses only
numbers. For this reason, the use of different names for groups with the
same number causes an error at compile time.
====
== Creating a new string with substitutions
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substitute(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SPTR replacement, PCRE2_SIZE rlength,
PCRE2_UCHAR *buffer, PCRE2_SIZE *blength);
----
This function optionally calls func:pcre2_match() and then makes a copy of the
subject string in arg:buffer, replacing parts that were matched with
the _replacement_ string, whose length is supplied in `rlength`, which
can be given as const:PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED for a zero-terminated string. As a
special case, if _replacement_ is NULL and _rlength_ is zero, the
replacement is assumed to be an empty string. If _rlength_ is non-zero, an
error occurs if _replacement_ is NULL.
There is an option (see const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_REPLACEMENT_ONLY below) to return just
the replacement string(s). The default action is to perform just one
replacement if the pattern matches, but there is an option that requests
multiple replacements (see const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL below).
If successful, func:pcre2_substitute() returns the number of substitutions
that were carried out. This may be zero if no match was found, and is never
greater than one unless const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is set. A negative value is
returned if an error is detected.
Matches in which a [.regex]`\K` item in a lookahead in the pattern causes the match to
end before it starts are not supported, and give rise to an error return. For
global replacements, matches in which [.regex]`\K` in a lookbehind causes the match to
start earlier than the point that was reached in the previous iteration are
also not supported. (These cases are only possible if the pattern was compiled
with the backwards-compatibility option const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK.)
The first seven arguments of func:pcre2_substitute() are the same as for
func:pcre2_match(), except that the partial matching options are not
permitted, and arg:match_data may be passed as [.c]`NULL`, in which case a match
data block is obtained and freed within this function, using memory management
functions from the match context, if provided, or else those that were used to
allocate memory for the compiled code.
If arg:match_data is not [.c]`NULL` and const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED is not set, the
provided block is used for all calls to func:pcre2_match(), and its contents
afterwards are the result of the final call made internally by
func:pcre2_substitute() to the matching function. For global changes, this will
always be a no-match error. The contents of the ovector within the match data
block may or may not have been changed.
As well as the usual options for func:pcre2_match(), a number of additional
options can be set in the arg:options argument of func:pcre2_substitute().
One such option is const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED. When this is set, an external
arg:match_data block must be provided, and it must have already been used for
an external call to func:pcre2_match() (or func:pcre2_jit_match()) with the
same pattern, subject pointer, effective subject length, start offset, and match
option arguments (substitute-specific options can be added to the arg:options
argument). If any of these parameters is changed, func:pcre2_substitute()
returns an error. The data in the arg:match_data block (return code, offset
vector) is used for the first substitution instead of calling
func:pcre2_match() from within func:pcre2_substitute(). This allows an
application to check for a match before choosing to substitute, without having
to repeat the match.
If the contents of the subject buffer are mutated in between func:pcre2_match()
and a call to func:pcre2_substitute() with const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED, the
behaviour is unsafe; in particular, in this case, PCRE2 is unable to ensure that
the offsets in the ovector point to the start of characters (with UTF-encoded
input).
The contents of the externally supplied match data block are not changed when
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED is set, and so the match block is permitted for use in
another call using const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED. If const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is also
set, func:pcre2_match() is called after the first substitution to check for
furthe matches, but this is done using an internally obtained match data block,
thus always leaving the external block unchanged.
The arg:code argument is not used for matching before the first substitution
when const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED is set, but it must be provided, even when
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is not set, because it contains information such as the
UTF setting and the number of capturing parentheses in the pattern.
When using const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED, you should not modify the subject string
in between the prior call to func:pcre2_match() and func:pcre2_substitute(),
as the substitution assumes that the passed-in ovector is compatible with the
subject string. Although PCRE2 does verify that the subject is a pointer to the
same buffer, it cannot in general verify whether the contents of the buffer have
changed. For example, if the subject buffer is mutated from one valid UTF-8
string to another valid string, of the same length in code units, the ovector
offsets are no longer guaranteed to point to the start of a character. Beware
that with const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED in UTF mode, the subject string is not
re-scanned for UTF validity when func:pcre2_substitute() first uses it.
The default action of func:pcre2_substitute() is to return a copy of the
subject string with matched substrings replaced. However, if
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_REPLACEMENT_ONLY is set, only the replacement substrings are
returned. In the global case, multiple replacements are concatenated in the
output buffer. Substitution callouts (see
below)
can be used to separate them if necessary.
Partial matching is supported, with limitations: if matching succeeds but with a
partial match, then func:pcre2_substitute() returns const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL. When
partial-matching (either of const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD or const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT is passed),
then const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_REPLACEMENT_ONLY must also be set, or else
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADOPTION is returned. Similarly, certain replacement items
([.regex]`$'` and [.regex]`$_`) cause const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIALSUBS to be returned when partial-matching,
even if a complete match is found.
The arg:blength argument of func:pcre2_substitute() must point to a
variable that contains the length, in code units, of the output buffer. If the
function is successful, the value is updated to contain the length in code
units of the new string, excluding the trailing zero that is automatically
added.
If the function is not successful, the value set via arg:blength depends
on the type of error. For syntax errors in the replacement string, the value is
the offset in the replacement string where the error was detected. For other
errors, the value is const:PCRE2_UNSET by default. This includes the case of the
output buffer being too small, unless const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH is set.
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH changes what happens when the output buffer is
too small. The default action is to return const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY immediately. If
this option is set, however, func:pcre2_substitute() continues to go through
the motions of matching and substituting (without, of course, writing anything)
in order to compute the size of buffer that is needed, which will include the
extra space for the terminating NUL. This value is passed back via the
arg:blength variable, with the result of the function still being
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY.
Passing a buffer size of zero is a permitted way of finding out how much memory
is needed for given substitution. However, this does mean that the entire
operation is carried out twice. Depending on the application, it may be more
efficient to allocate a large buffer and free the excess afterwards, instead of
using const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH.
The replacement string, which is interpreted as a UTF string in UTF mode, is
checked for UTF validity unless const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK is set. An invalid UTF
replacement string causes an immediate return with the relevant UTF error code.
If const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_LITERAL is set, the replacement string is not interpreted
in any way. By default, however, a dollar character is an escape character that
can specify the insertion of characters from capture groups and names from
([.regex]`*MARK`) or other control verbs in the pattern. Dollar is the only escape
character (backslash is treated as literal). The following forms are
recognized:
[source,text,role=values]
....
$$ insert a dollar character
$n or ${n} insert the contents of group _n_
$0 or $& insert the entire matched substring
$` insert the substring that precedes the match
$' insert the substring that follows the match
$_ insert the entire input string
$+ insert the highest-numbered capture group which matched
$*MARK or ${*MARK} insert a control verb name
....
Either a group number or a group name can be given for _n_, for example [.regex]`$2`
or [.regex]`$NAME`. Curly brackets are required only if the following character would be
interpreted as part of the number or name. The number may be zero to include
the entire matched string. For example, if the pattern [.regex]`a(b)c` is matched with
"=abc=" and the replacement string [.regex]`$1$0$1`, the result is "=+babcb+=".
The JavaScript form [.regex]`$<name>`, where the angle brackets are part of the syntax,
is also recognized for group names, but not for group numbers or [.regex]`*MARK`.
The [.regex]`$*MARK` inserts the name from the last encountered backtracking control verb on
the matching path that has a name. ([.regex]`*MARK`) must always include a name, but the
other verbs need not. For example, in the case of ([.regex]`*MARK:A`)([.regex]`*PRUNE`) the name
inserted is "A", but for ([.regex]`*MARK:A`)([.regex]`*PRUNE:B`) the relevant name is "B". This
facility can be used to perform simple simultaneous substitutions, as this
`pcre2test` example shows:
[source,text]
....
/(*MARK:pear)apple|(*MARK:orange)lemon/g,replace=${*MARK}
apple lemon
2: pear orange
....
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL causes the function to iterate over the subject string,
replacing every matching substring. If this option is not set, only the first
matching substring is replaced. The search for matches takes place in the
original subject string (that is, previous replacements do not affect it).
Iteration is implemented by advancing the arg:start_offset value for each
search, which is always passed the entire subject string. If an offset limit is
set in the match context, searching stops when that limit is reached.
Because global substitutions apply the pattern repeatedly to the subject string,
and always iterate over non-overlapping matches, the substitutions done by
func:pcre2_substitute() do not match and substitute text inside the replacement
strings themselves (no recursive/iterative substitution). However, applications
can easily implement other alternative replacement strategies, such as
iteratively replacing, then matching and replacing on the result. The
replacement loop inside func:pcre2_substitute() is simple and can be emulated
in client code by allocating a buffer, searching for matches in a loop, and
calling func:pcre2_substitute() with const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_REPLACEMENT_ONLY an
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED, and without const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL.
You can restrict the effect of a global substitution to a portion of the
subject string by setting either or both of arg:start_offset and an offset
limit. Here is a `pcre2test` example:
[source,text]
....
/B/g,replace=!,use_offset_limit
ABC ABC ABC ABC\=offset=3,offset_limit=12
2: ABC A!C A!C ABC
....
When continuing with global substitutions after matching a substring with zero
length, an attempt to find a non-empty match at the same offset is performed.
If this is not successful, the offset is advanced by one character except when
CRLF is a valid newline sequence and the next two characters are CR, LF. In
this case, the offset is advanced by two characters.
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET causes references to capture groups that do
not appear in the pattern to be treated as unset groups. This option should be
used with care, because it means that a typo in a group name or number no
longer causes the const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING error.
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNSET_EMPTY causes unset capture groups (including unknown
groups when const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET is set) to be treated as empty
strings when inserted as described above. If this option is not set, an attempt
to insert an unset group causes the const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET error. This option does
not influence the extended substitution syntax described below.
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED causes extra processing to be applied to the
replacement string. Without this option, only the dollar character is special,
and only the group insertion forms listed above are valid. When
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED is set, several things change:
Firstly, backslash in a replacement string is interpreted as an escape
character. The usual forms such as [.regex]`\x{ddd}` can be used to specify particular
character codes, and backslash followed by any non-alphanumeric character
quotes that character. Extended quoting can be coded using [.regex]`\Q...\E`, exactly
as in pattern strings. The escapes [.regex]`\b` and [.regex]`\v` are interpreted as the
characters backspace and vertical tab, respectively.
The interpretation of backslash followed by one or more digits is the same as
in a pattern, which in Perl has some ambiguities. Details are given in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
page.
The Python form [.regex]`\g<n>`, where the angle brackets are part of the syntax and
_n_ is either a group name or number, is recognized as an alternative way
of inserting the contents of a group, for example [.regex]`\g<3>`.
There are also four escape sequences for forcing the case of inserted letters.
Case forcing applies to all inserted characters, including those from capture
groups and letters within [.regex]`\Q...\E` quoted sequences. The insertion mechanism
has three states: no case forcing, force upper case, and force lower case. The
escape sequences change the current state: [.regex]`\U` and [.regex]`\L` change to upper or lower
case forcing, respectively, and [.regex]`\E` (when not terminating a [.regex]`\Q` quoted
sequence) reverts to no case forcing. The sequences [.regex]`\u` and [.regex]`\l` force the next
character (if it is a letter) to upper or lower case, respectively, and then
the state automatically reverts to no case forcing.
However, if [.regex]`\u` is immediately followed by [.regex]`\L` or [.regex]`\l` is immediately followed
by [.regex]`\U`, the next character's case is forced by the first escape sequence, and
subsequent characters by the second. This provides a "title casing" facility
that can be applied to group captures. For example, if group 1 has captured
"heLLo", the replacement string [.regex]`\u\L$1` becomes "Hello".
If either const:PCRE2_UTF or const:PCRE2_UCP was set when the pattern was compiled, Unicode
properties are used for case forcing characters whose code points are greater
than 127. However, only simple case folding, as determined by the Unicode file
`CaseFolding.txt` is supported. PCRE2 does not support language-specific
special casing rules such as using different lower case Greek sigmas in the
middle and ends of words (as defined in the Unicode file
`SpecialCasing.txt`).
Note that case forcing sequences such as [.regex]`\U...\E` do not nest. For example,
the result of processing [.regex]`\Uaa\LBB\Ecc\E` is "AAbbcc"; the final [.regex]`\E` has no
effect. Note also that the const:PCRE2_ALT_BSUX and const:PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX options do
not apply to replacement strings.
The final effect of setting const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED is to add more
flexibility to capture group substitution. The syntax is similar to that used
by Bash:
[source,text,role=values]
....
${n:-string}
${n:+string1:string2}
....
As in the simple case, _n_ may be a group number or a name. The first form
specifies a default value. If group _n_ is set, its value is inserted; if
not, the string is expanded and the result inserted. The second form specifies
strings that are expanded and inserted when group _n_ is set or unset,
respectively. The first form is just a convenient shorthand for
[source,text,role=values]
....
${n:+${n}:string}
....
Backslash can be used to escape colons and closing curly brackets in the
replacement strings. A change of the case forcing state within a replacement
string remains in force afterwards, as shown in this `pcre2test` example:
[source,text]
....
/(some)?(body)/substitute_extended,replace=${1:+\U:\L}HeLLo
body
1: hello
somebody
1: HELLO
....
The const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNSET_EMPTY option does not affect these extended
substitutions. However, const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET does cause unknown
groups in the extended syntax forms to be treated as unset.
If const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_LITERAL is set, const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET,
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNSET_EMPTY, and const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED are irrelevant and
are ignored.
=== Substitution errors
In the event of an error, func:pcre2_substitute() returns a negative error
code. Except for const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH (which is never returned), errors from
func:pcre2_match() are passed straight back.
.Errors
[.errors]
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING::
is returned for a non-existent substring insertion,
unless const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET is set.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET::
is returned for an unset substring insertion (including an
unknown substring when const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET is set) when the simple
(non-extended) syntax is used and const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNSET_EMPTY is not set.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMEMORY::
is returned if the output buffer is not big enough. If the
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH option is set, the size of buffer that is
needed is returned via arg:blength. Note that this does not happen by
default.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NULL::
is returned if const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED is set but the
arg:match_data argument is [.c]`NULL` or if the arg:subject or arg:replacement
arguments are [.c]`NULL`. For backward compatibility reasons an exception is made for
the arg:replacement argument if the arg:rlength argument is also [.c]`0`.
const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADREPLACEMENT::
is used for miscellaneous syntax errors in the
replacement string, with more particular errors being const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADREPESCAPE
(invalid escape sequence), const:PCRE2_ERROR_REPMISSINGBRACE (closing curly bracket
not found), const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADSUBSTITUTION (syntax error in extended group
substitution), and const:PCRE2_ERROR_BADSUBSPATTERN (the pattern match ended before
it started or the match started earlier than the current position in the
subject, which can happen if [.regex]`\K` is used in a lookaround assertion).
As for all PCRE2 errors, a text message that describes the error can be
obtained by calling the func:pcre2_get_error_message() function (see
"Obtaining a textual error message"
above).
=== Substitution callouts
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_substitute_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
int (*substitute_callout)(
pcre2_substitute_callout_block *callout_block,
void *substitute_callout_data),
void *substitute_callout_data);
----
The func:pcre2_set_substitute_callout() function can be used to specify a
callout function for func:pcre2_substitute(). This information is passed in
a match context. The callout function is called after each substitution has
been processed, but it can cause the replacement not to happen.
The callout function is not called for simulated substitutions that happen as a
result of the const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH option. In this mode, when
substitution processing exceeds the buffer space provided by the caller,
processing continues by counting code units. The simulation is unable to
populate the callout block, and so the simulation is pessimistic about the
required buffer size. Whichever is larger of accepted or rejected substitution
is reported as the required size. Therefore, the returned buffer length may be
an overestimate (without a substitution callout, it is normally an exact
measurement).
The first argument of the callout function is a pointer to a substitute callout
block structure, which contains the following fields, not necessarily in this
order:
.Members
[.members]
[.c]`uint32_t` arg:version[.c]``;``::
[.c]`uint32_t` arg:subscount[.c]``;``::
type:PCRE2_SPTR arg:input[.c]``;``::
type:PCRE2_SPTR arg:output[.c]``;``::
type:PCRE2_SIZE [.c]``*``arg:ovector[.c]``;``::
[.c]`uint32_t` arg:oveccount[.c]``;``::
type:PCRE2_SIZE arg:output_offsets[.c]``[2];``::
The arg:version field contains the version number of the block format. The
current version is 0. The version number will increase in future if more fields
are added, but the intention is never to remove any of the existing fields.
The arg:subscount field is the number of the current match. It is 1 for the
first callout, 2 for the second, and so on. The arg:input and arg:output
pointers are copies of the values passed to func:pcre2_substitute().
The arg:ovector field points to the ovector, which contains the result of the
most recent match. The arg:oveccount field contains the number of pairs that
are set in the ovector, and is always greater than zero.
The arg:output_offsets vector contains the offsets of the replacement in the
output string. This has already been processed for dollar and (if requested)
backslash substitutions as described above.
The second argument of the callout function is the value passed as
arg:callout_data when the function was registered. The value returned by the
callout function is interpreted as follows:
If the value is zero, the replacement is accepted, and, if
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is set, processing continues with a search for the next
match. If the value is not zero, the current replacement is not accepted. If
the value is greater than zero, processing continues when
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is set. Otherwise (the value is less than zero or
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_GLOBAL is not set), the rest of the input is copied to the
output and the call to func:pcre2_substitute() exits, returning the number of
matches so far.
=== Substitution case callouts
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_set_substitute_case_callout(
pcre2_match_context *mcontext,
PCRE2_SIZE (*substitute_case_callout)(
PCRE2_SPTR input, PCRE2_SIZE input_length,
PCRE2_UCHAR *output, PCRE2_SIZE output_capacity,
int case_operation, void *substitute_case_callout_data),
void *substitute_case_callout_data);
----
The func:pcre2_set_substitute_case_callout() function can be used to specify
a callout function for func:pcre2_substitute() to use when performing case
transformations. This does not affect any case insensitivity behaviour when
performing a match, but only the user-visible transformations performed when
processing a substitution such as:
[source,c,indent=2.5]
....
pcre2_substitute(..., "\\U$1", ...)
....
The default case transformations applied by PCRE2 are reasonably complete, and,
in UTF or UCP mode, perform the simple locale-invariant case transformations as
specified by Unicode. This is suitable for the internal (invisible)
case-equivalence procedures used during pattern matching, but an application
may wish to use more sophisticated locale-aware processing for the user-visible
substitution transformations.
One example implementation of the _callout_function_ using the ICU
library would be:
[source,c]
----
PCRE2_SIZE
icu_case_callout(
PCRE2_SPTR input, PCRE2_SIZE input_len,
PCRE2_UCHAR *output, PCRE2_SIZE output_cap,
int to_case, void *data_ptr)
{
UErrorCode err = U_ZERO_ERROR;
int32_t r = to_case == PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_LOWER
? u_strToLower(output, output_cap, input, input_len, NULL, &err)
: to_case == PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_UPPER
? u_strToUpper(output, output_cap, input, input_len, NULL, &err)
: u_strToTitle(output, output_cap, input, input_len, &first_char_only,
NULL, &err);
if (U_FAILURE(err)) return (~(PCRE2_SIZE)0);
return r;
}
----
The first and second arguments of the case callout function are the Unicode
string to transform.
The third and fourth arguments are the output buffer and its capacity.
The fifth is one of the constants const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_LOWER,
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_UPPER, or const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_TITLE_FIRST.
const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_LOWER and const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_UPPER are passed to the
callout to indicate that the case of the entire callout input should be
case-transformed. const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_CASE_TITLE_FIRST is passed to indicate that
only the first character or glyph should be transformed to Unicode titlecase
and the rest to Unicode lowercase (note that titlecasing sometimes uses Unicode
properties to titlecase each word in a string; but PCRE2 is requesting that only
the single leading character is to be titlecased).
The sixth argument is the arg:callout_data supplied to
func:pcre2_set_substitute_case_callout().
The resulting string in the destination buffer may be larger or smaller than the
input, if the casing rules merge or split characters. The return value is the
length required for the output string. If a buffer of sufficient size was
provided to the callout, then the result must be written to the buffer and the
number of code units returned. If the result does not fit in the provided
buffer, then the required capacity must be returned and PCRE2 will not make use
of the output buffer. PCRE2 provides input and output buffers which overlap, so
the callout must support this by suitable internal buffering.
Alternatively, if the callout wishes to indicate an error, then it may return
[.c]`(~(PCRE2_SIZE)0)`. In this case func:pcre2_substitute() will immediately fail with
error const:PCRE2_ERROR_REPLACECASE.
When a case callout is combined with the const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH
option, there are situations when func:pcre2_substitute() will return an
underestimate of the required buffer size. If you call func:pcre2_substitute() once
with const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH, and the input buffer is too small for
the replacement string to be constructed, then instead of calling the case
callout, func:pcre2_substitute() will make an estimate of the required buffer size.
The second call should also pass const:PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH, because that
second call is not guaranteed to succeed either, if the case callout requires
more buffer space than expected. The caller must make repeated attempts in a
loop.
== Duplicate capture group names
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_substring_nametable_scan(const pcre2_code *code,
PCRE2_SPTR stringname,
PCRE2_SPTR *firstptr,
PCRE2_SPTR *lastptr);
----
When a pattern is compiled with the const:PCRE2_DUPNAMES option, names for capture
groups are not required to be unique. Duplicate names are always allowed for
groups with the same number, created by using the [.regex]`(?|` feature. Indeed, if such
groups are named, they are required to use the same names.
Normally, patterns that use duplicate names are such that in any one match,
only one of each set of identically-named groups participates. An example is
shown in the
xref:pcre2pattern.adoc[`pcre2pattern`]
documentation.
When duplicates are present, func:pcre2_substring_copy_byname() and
func:pcre2_substring_get_byname() return the first substring corresponding to
the given name that is set. Only if none are set is const:PCRE2_ERROR_UNSET is
returned. The func:pcre2_substring_number_from_name() function returns the
error const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOUNIQUESUBSTRING when there are duplicate names.
If you want to get full details of all captured substrings for a given name,
you must use the func:pcre2_substring_nametable_scan() function. The first
argument is the compiled pattern, and the second is the name. If the third and
fourth arguments are [.c]`NULL`, the function returns a group number for a unique
name, or const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOUNIQUESUBSTRING otherwise.
When the third and fourth arguments are not [.c]`NULL`, they must be pointers to
variables that are updated by the function. After it has run, they point to the
first and last entries in the name-to-number table for the given name, and the
function returns the length of each entry in code units. In both cases,
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING is returned if there are no entries for the given name.
The format of the name table is described
above
in the section entitled _Information about a pattern_. Given all the
relevant entries for the name, you can extract each of their numbers, and hence
the captured data.
== Finding all possible matches at one position
The traditional matching function uses a similar algorithm to Perl, which stops
when it finds the first match at a given point in the subject. If you want to
find all possible matches, or the longest possible match at a given position,
consider using the alternative matching function (see below) instead. If you
cannot use the alternative function, you can kludge it up by making use of the
callout facility, which is described in the
xref:pcre2callout.adoc[`pcre2callout`]
documentation.
What you have to do is to insert a callout right at the end of the pattern.
When your callout function is called, extract and save the current matched
substring. Then return [.c]`1`, which forces func:pcre2_match() to backtrack and try
other alternatives. Ultimately, when it runs out of matches,
func:pcre2_match() will yield const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH.
== Matching a pattern: the alternative function
[source,c,role=prototype]
----
int pcre2_dfa_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE start_offset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext, int *workspace,
PCRE2_SIZE wscount);
----
The function func:pcre2_dfa_match() is called to match a subject string
against a compiled pattern, using a matching algorithm that scans the subject
string just once (not counting lookaround assertions), and does not backtrack
(except when processing lookaround assertions). This has different
characteristics to the normal algorithm, and is not compatible with Perl. Some
of the features of PCRE2 patterns are not supported. Nevertheless, there are
times when this kind of matching can be useful. For a discussion of the two
matching algorithms, and a list of features that func:pcre2_dfa_match() does
not support, see the
xref:pcre2matching.adoc[`pcre2matching`]
documentation.
The arguments for the func:pcre2_dfa_match() function are the same as for
func:pcre2_match(), plus two extras. The arg:ovector within the match data block
is used in a different way, and this is described below. The other common
arguments are used in the same way as for func:pcre2_match(), so their
description is not repeated here.
The two additional arguments provide workspace for the function. The workspace
vector should contain at least 20 elements. It is used for keeping track of
multiple paths through the pattern tree. More workspace is needed for patterns
and subjects where there are a lot of potential matches.
Here is an example of a simple call to func:pcre2_dfa_match():
[source,c]
....
int wspace[20];
pcre2_match_data *md = pcre2_match_data_create(4, NULL);
int rc = pcre2_dfa_match(
re, /* result of pcre2_compile() */
"some string", /* the subject string */
11, /* the length of the subject string */
0, /* start at offset 0 in the subject */
0, /* default options */
md, /* the match data block */
NULL, /* a match context; NULL means use defaults */
wspace, /* working space vector */
20); /* number of elements (NOT size in bytes) */
....
=== Option bits for func:pcre2_dfa_match()
The unused bits of the arg:options argument for func:pcre2_dfa_match() must
be zero. The only bits that may be set are const:PCRE2_ANCHORED,
const:PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT, const:PCRE2_ENDANCHORED, const:PCRE2_NOTBOL, const:PCRE2_NOTEOL,
const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY, const:PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, const:PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK, const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD,
const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT, const:PCRE2_DFA_SHORTEST, and const:PCRE2_DFA_RESTART. All but the last
four of these are exactly the same as for func:pcre2_match(), so their
description is not repeated here.
[source,text,role=options]
....
PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD
PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT
....
These have the same general effect as they do for func:pcre2_match(), but the
details are slightly different. When const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD is set for
func:pcre2_dfa_match(), it returns const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the
subject is reached and there is still at least one matching possibility that
requires additional characters. This happens even if some complete matches have
already been found. When const:PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT is set, the return code
const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOMATCH is converted into const:PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the
subject is reached, there have been no complete matches, but there is still at
least one matching possibility. The portion of the string that was inspected
when the longest partial match was found is set as the first matching string in
both cases. There is a more detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment
matching, with examples, in the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation.
[source,text,role=options]
....
PCRE2_DFA_SHORTEST
....
Setting the const:PCRE2_DFA_SHORTEST option causes the matching algorithm to stop as
soon as it has found one match. Because of the way the alternative algorithm
works, this is necessarily the shortest possible match at the first possible
matching point in the subject string.
[source,text,role=options]
....
PCRE2_DFA_RESTART
....
When func:pcre2_dfa_match() returns a partial match, it is possible to call it
again, with additional subject characters, and have it continue with the same
match. The const:PCRE2_DFA_RESTART option requests this action; when it is set, the
arg:workspace and arg:wscount options must reference the same vector as
before because data about the match so far is left in them after a partial
match. There is more discussion of this facility in the
xref:pcre2partial.adoc[`pcre2partial`]
documentation.
=== Successful returns from func:pcre2_dfa_match()
When func:pcre2_dfa_match() succeeds, it may have matched more than one
substring in the subject. Note, however, that all the matches from one run of
the function start at the same point in the subject. The shorter matches are
all initial substrings of the longer matches. For example, if the pattern
[source,regex]
....
<.*>
....
is matched against the string
[literal]
....
This is <something> <something else> <something further> no more
....
the three matched strings are
[source,regex]
....
<something> <something else> <something further>
<something> <something else>
<something>
....
On success, the yield of the function is a number greater than zero, which is
the number of matched substrings. The offsets of the substrings are returned in
the arg:ovector, and can be extracted by number in the same way as for
func:pcre2_match(), but the numbers bear no relation to any capture groups
that may exist in the pattern, because DFA matching does not support capturing.
Calls to the convenience functions that extract substrings by name
return the error const:PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_UFUNC (unsupported function) if used after a
DFA match. The convenience functions that extract substrings by number never
return const:PCRE2_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING.
The matched strings are stored in the arg:ovector in reverse order of length; that
is, the longest matching string is first. If there were too many matches to fit
into the arg:ovector, the yield of the function is zero, and the vector is filled
with the longest matches.
[NOTE]
====
PCRE2's "auto-possessification" optimization usually applies to character
repeats at the end of a pattern (as well as internally). For example, the
pattern [.regex]`a\d+` is compiled as if it were [.regex]`a\d++`. For DFA matching, this
means that only one possible match is found. If you really do want multiple
matches in such cases, either use an ungreedy repeat such as [.regex]`a\d&#43;?` or set
the const:PCRE2_NO_AUTO_POSSESS option when compiling.
====
=== Error returns from func:pcre2_dfa_match()
The func:pcre2_dfa_match() function returns a negative number when it fails.
Many of the errors are the same as for func:pcre2_match(), as described
above.
There are in addition the following errors that are specific to
func:pcre2_dfa_match():
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_UITEM
....
This return is given if func:pcre2_dfa_match() encounters an item in the
pattern that it does not support, for instance, the use of [.regex]`\C` in a UTF mode or
a backreference.
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_UCOND
....
This return is given if func:pcre2_dfa_match() encounters a condition item
that uses a backreference for the condition, or a test for recursion in a
specific capture group. These are not supported.
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_UINVALID_UTF
....
This return is given if func:pcre2_dfa_match() is called for a pattern that
was compiled with const:PCRE2_MATCH_INVALID_UTF. This is not supported for DFA
matching.
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_WSSIZE
....
This return is given if func:pcre2_dfa_match() runs out of space in the
arg:workspace vector.
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_RECURSE
....
When a recursion or subroutine call is processed, the matching function calls
itself recursively, using private memory for the arg:ovector and arg:workspace.
This error is given if the internal arg:ovector is not large enough. This should be
extremely rare, as a vector of size 1000 is used.
[source,text,role=errors]
....
PCRE2_ERROR_DFA_BADRESTART
....
When func:pcre2_dfa_match() is called with the const:PCRE2_DFA_RESTART option,
some plausibility checks are made on the contents of the workspace, which
should contain data about the previous partial match. If any of these checks
fail, this error is given.
== See also
`pcre2build`(3), `pcre2callout`(3), `pcre2demo(3)`,
`pcre2matching`(3), `pcre2partial`(3), `pcre2posix`(3),
`pcre2sample`(3), `pcre2unicode`(3).
== Author
[literal]
----
Philip Hazel
Retired from University Computing Service
Cambridge, England.
----
== Revision
Last updated: 08 December 2025 +
Copyright (c) 1997-2024 University of Cambridge.