Section: POSIX Programmer's Manual (0P)
Updated: 2003
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NAME
regex.h - regular expression matching types
SYNOPSIS
#include <regex.h>
DESCRIPTION
The <regex.h> header shall define the structures and symbolic
constants used by the regcomp(), regexec(), regerror(),
and regfree() functions.
The structure type regex_t shall contain at least the following
member:
-
size_t re_nsub Number of parenthesized subexpressions.
The type size_t shall be defined as described in <sys/types.h>
.
The type regoff_t shall be defined as a signed integer type
that can hold the largest value that can be stored in either
a type off_t or type ssize_t. The structure type regmatch_t
shall contain at least the following members:
-
regoff_t rm_so Byte offset from start of string
to start of substring.
regoff_t rm_eo Byte offset from start of string of the
first character after the end of substring.
Values for the cflags parameter to the regcomp() function
are as
follows:
- REG_EXTENDED
-
Use Extended Regular Expressions.
- REG_ICASE
-
Ignore case in match.
- REG_NOSUB
-
Report only success or fail in regexec().
- REG_NEWLINE
-
Change the handling of <newline>.
Values for the eflags parameter to the regexec() function
are as
follows:
- REG_NOTBOL
-
The circumflex character ( '^' ), when taken as a special character,
does not match the beginning of
string.
- REG_NOTEOL
-
The dollar sign ( '$' ), when taken as a special character,
does not match the end of string.
The following constants shall be defined as error return values:
- REG_NOMATCH
-
regexec() failed to match.
- REG_BADPAT
-
Invalid regular expression.
- REG_ECOLLATE
-
Invalid collating element referenced.
- REG_ECTYPE
-
Invalid character class type referenced.
- REG_EESCAPE
-
Trailing '\' in pattern.
- REG_ESUBREG
-
Number in \digit invalid or in error.
- REG_EBRACK
-
"[]" imbalance.
- REG_EPAREN
-
"\(\)" or "()" imbalance.
- REG_EBRACE
-
"\{\}" imbalance.
- REG_BADBR
-
Content of "\{\}" invalid: not a number, number too large,
more than two numbers, first larger than second.
- REG_ERANGE
-
Invalid endpoint in range expression.
- REG_ESPACE
-
Out of memory.
- REG_BADRPT
-
'?', '*', or '+' not preceded by valid regular
expression.
- REG_ENOSYS
-
Reserved.
The following shall be declared as functions and may also be defined
as macros. Function prototypes shall be provided.
-
int regcomp(regex_t *restrict, const char *restrict, int);
size_t regerror(int, const regex_t *restrict, char *restrict, size_t);
int regexec(const regex_t *restrict, const char *restrict, size_t,
regmatch_t[restrict], int);
void regfree(regex_t *);
The implementation may define additional macros or constants using
names beginning with REG_.
The following sections are informative.
APPLICATION USAGE
None.
RATIONALE
None.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
None.
SEE ALSO
<sys/types.h>, the System Interfaces volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001,
regcomp(), the Shell and Utilities volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
COPYRIGHT
Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
-- Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
is the referee document. The original Standard can be obtained online at
http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .