This module provides regular expression matching operations similar to
those found in Emacs. It is always available.
-By default the patterns are Emacs-style regular expressions,
-with one exception. There is
+By default the patterns are Emacs-style regular expressions
+(with one exception). There is
a way to change the syntax to match that of several well-known
\UNIX{} utilities. The exception is that Emacs' \samp{\e s}
pattern is not supported, since the original implementation references
A regular expression (or RE) specifies a set of strings that matches
it; the functions in this module let you check if a particular string
-matches a given regular expression.
+matches a given regular expression (or if a given regular expression
+matches a particular string, which comes down to the same thing).
Regular expressions can be concatenated to form new regular
expressions; if \emph{A} and \emph{B} are both regular expressions,
% "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Alfred V. Aho,
% Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman, or some FA text.
-A brief explanation of the format of regular
-expressions follows.
+A brief explanation of the format of regular expressions follows.
Regular expressions can contain both special and ordinary characters.
Ordinary characters, like '\code{A}', '\code{a}', or '\code{0}', are
the simplest regular expressions; they simply match themselves. You
can concatenate ordinary characters, so '\code{last}' matches the
-characters 'last'.
+characters 'last'. (In the rest of this section, we'll write RE's in
+\code{this special font}, usually without quotes, and strings to be
+matched 'in single quotes'.)
Special characters either stand for classes of ordinary characters, or
affect how the regular expressions around them are interpreted.
The special characters are:
\begin{itemize}
-\item[\code{.}]{Matches any character except a newline.}
-\item[\code{\^}]{Matches the start of the string.}
+\item[\code{.}]{(Dot.) Matches any character except a newline.}
+\item[\code{\^}]{(Caret.) Matches the start of the string.}
\item[\code{\$}]{Matches the end of the string.
\code{foo} matches both 'foo' and 'foobar', while the regular
expression '\code{foo\$}' matches only 'foo'.}
\begin{itemize}
\item[\code{\e|}]\code{A\e|B}, where A and B can be arbitrary REs,
-creates a regular expression that will match either A or B.
+creates a regular expression that will match either A or B. This can
+be used inside groups (see below) as well.
%
\item[\code{\e( \e)}]{Indicates the start and end of a group; the
contents of a group can be matched later in the string with the
'55 55', but not 'the end' (note the space after the group). This
special sequence can only be used to match one of the first 9 groups;
groups with higher numbers can be matched using the \code{\e v}
-sequence.}}
+sequence. (\code{\e 8} and \code{\e 9} don't need a double backslash
+because they are not octal digits.)}}
%
\item[\code{\e \e b}]{Matches the empty string, but only at the
beginning or end of a word. A word is defined as a sequence of
\item[\code{\e >}]{Matches the empty string, but only at the end of a
word.}
+\item[\code{\e \e \e \e}]{Matches a literal backslash.}
+
% In Emacs, the following two are start of buffer/end of buffer. In
% Python they seem to be synonyms for ^$.
\item[\code{\e `}]{Like \code{\^}, this only matches at the start of the
\begin{funcdesc}{search}{pattern\, string}
Return the first position in \var{string} that matches the regular
- expression \var{pattern}. Return -1 if no position in the string
+ expression \var{pattern}. Return \code{-1} if no position in the string
matches the pattern (this is different from a zero-length match
anywhere!).
\end{funcdesc}
This module provides regular expression matching operations similar to
those found in Emacs. It is always available.
-By default the patterns are Emacs-style regular expressions,
-with one exception. There is
+By default the patterns are Emacs-style regular expressions
+(with one exception). There is
a way to change the syntax to match that of several well-known
\UNIX{} utilities. The exception is that Emacs' \samp{\e s}
pattern is not supported, since the original implementation references
A regular expression (or RE) specifies a set of strings that matches
it; the functions in this module let you check if a particular string
-matches a given regular expression.
+matches a given regular expression (or if a given regular expression
+matches a particular string, which comes down to the same thing).
Regular expressions can be concatenated to form new regular
expressions; if \emph{A} and \emph{B} are both regular expressions,
% "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools", by Alfred V. Aho,
% Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman, or some FA text.
-A brief explanation of the format of regular
-expressions follows.
+A brief explanation of the format of regular expressions follows.
Regular expressions can contain both special and ordinary characters.
Ordinary characters, like '\code{A}', '\code{a}', or '\code{0}', are
the simplest regular expressions; they simply match themselves. You
can concatenate ordinary characters, so '\code{last}' matches the
-characters 'last'.
+characters 'last'. (In the rest of this section, we'll write RE's in
+\code{this special font}, usually without quotes, and strings to be
+matched 'in single quotes'.)
Special characters either stand for classes of ordinary characters, or
affect how the regular expressions around them are interpreted.
The special characters are:
\begin{itemize}
-\item[\code{.}]{Matches any character except a newline.}
-\item[\code{\^}]{Matches the start of the string.}
+\item[\code{.}]{(Dot.) Matches any character except a newline.}
+\item[\code{\^}]{(Caret.) Matches the start of the string.}
\item[\code{\$}]{Matches the end of the string.
\code{foo} matches both 'foo' and 'foobar', while the regular
expression '\code{foo\$}' matches only 'foo'.}
\begin{itemize}
\item[\code{\e|}]\code{A\e|B}, where A and B can be arbitrary REs,
-creates a regular expression that will match either A or B.
+creates a regular expression that will match either A or B. This can
+be used inside groups (see below) as well.
%
\item[\code{\e( \e)}]{Indicates the start and end of a group; the
contents of a group can be matched later in the string with the
'55 55', but not 'the end' (note the space after the group). This
special sequence can only be used to match one of the first 9 groups;
groups with higher numbers can be matched using the \code{\e v}
-sequence.}}
+sequence. (\code{\e 8} and \code{\e 9} don't need a double backslash
+because they are not octal digits.)}}
%
\item[\code{\e \e b}]{Matches the empty string, but only at the
beginning or end of a word. A word is defined as a sequence of
\item[\code{\e >}]{Matches the empty string, but only at the end of a
word.}
+\item[\code{\e \e \e \e}]{Matches a literal backslash.}
+
% In Emacs, the following two are start of buffer/end of buffer. In
% Python they seem to be synonyms for ^$.
\item[\code{\e `}]{Like \code{\^}, this only matches at the start of the
\begin{funcdesc}{search}{pattern\, string}
Return the first position in \var{string} that matches the regular
- expression \var{pattern}. Return -1 if no position in the string
+ expression \var{pattern}. Return \code{-1} if no position in the string
matches the pattern (this is different from a zero-length match
anywhere!).
\end{funcdesc}
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