Manpages

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both Basic and Extended Regular Expressions are supported

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the Internationalization features—character class, equivalence class, and multi-character collation—are supported.

1.

the characters ), (, {, and }

2.

the digits 1 to 9 inclusive (see BREs Matching Multiple Characters, below)

3.

a character inside a bracket expression.

. [ \

The period, left-bracket, and backslash are special except when used in a bracket expression (see RE Bracket Expression, below). An expression containing a [ that is not preceded by a backslash and is not part of a bracket expression produces undefined results.

*

The asterisk is special except when used:

in a bracket expression

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as the first character of an entire BRE (after an initial ^, if any)

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as the first character of a subexpression (after an initial ^, if any); see BREs Matching Multiple Characters, below.

^

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as an anchor (see BRE Expression Anchoring, below).

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as the first character of a bracket expression (see RE Bracket Expression, below).

$

1.

A bracket expression is either a matching list expression or a non-matching list expression. It consists of one or more expressions: collating elements, collating symbols, equivalence classes, character classes, or range expressions (see rule 7 below). Portable applications must not use range expressions, even though all implementations support them. The right-bracket (]) loses its special meaning and represents itself in a bracket expression if it occurs first in the list (after an initial circumflex (^), if any). Otherwise, it terminates the bracket expression, unless it appears in a collating symbol (such as [.].]) or is the ending right-bracket for a collating symbol, equivalence class, or character class. The special characters:

2.

A matching list expression specifies a list that matches any one of the expressions represented in the list. The first character in the list must not be the circumflex. For example, [abc] is an RE that matches any of the characters

3.

A non-matching list expression begins with a circumflex (^), and specifies a list that matches any character or collating element except for the expressions represented in the list after the leading circumflex. For example, [^abc] is an RE that matches any character or collating element except the characters a, b, or c. The circumflex will have this special meaning only when it occurs first in the list, immediately following the left-bracket.

4.

A collating symbol is a collating element enclosed within bracket-period ([..]) delimiters. Multi-character collating elements must be represented as collating symbols when it is necessary to distinguish them from a list of the individual characters that make up the multi-character collating element. For example, if the string ch is a collating element in the current collation sequence with the associated collating symbol <ch>, the expression [[.ch.]] will be treated as an RE matching the character sequence ch, while [ch] will be treated as an RE matching c or h. Collating symbols will be recognized only inside bracket expressions. This implies that the RE [[.ch.]]*c matches the first to fifth character in the string chchch. If the string is not a collating element in the current collating sequence definition, or if the collating element has no characters associated with it, the symbol will be treated as an invalid expression.

5.

An equivalence class expression represents the set of collating elements belonging to an equivalence class. Only primary equivalence classes will be recognised. The class is expressed by enclosing any one of the collating elements in the equivalence class within bracket-equal ([==]) delimiters. For example, if a, and belong to the same equivalence class, then [[=a=]b], [[==]b] and [[==]b] will each be equivalent to [ab]. If the collating element does not belong to an equivalence class, the equivalence class expression will be treated as a collating symbol.

6.

A character class expression represents the set of characters belonging to a character class, as defined in the LC_CTYPE category in the current locale. All character classes specified in the current locale will be recognized. A character class expression is expressed as a character class name enclosed within bracket-colon ([::]) delimiters.

7.

A range expression represents the set of collating elements that fall between two elements in the current collation sequence, inclusively. It is expressed as the starting point and the ending point separated by a hyphen (-).

1.

The concatenation of BREs matches the concatenation of the strings matched by each component of the BRE.

2.

A subexpression can be defined within a BRE by enclosing it between the character pairs \( and \) . Such a subexpression matches whatever it would have matched without the \( and \), except that anchoring within subexpressions is optional behavior; see BRE Expression Anchoring, below. Subexpressions can be arbitrarily nested.

3.

The back-reference expression \n matches the same (possibly empty) string of characters as was matched by a subexpression enclosed between \( and \) preceding the \n. The character n must be a digit from 1 to 9 inclusive, nth subexpression (the one that begins with the nth \( and ends with the corresponding paired \)). The expression is invalid if less than n subexpressions precede the \n. For example, the expression ^\(.*\)\1$ matches a line consisting of two adjacent appearances of the same string, and the expression \(a\)*\1 fails to match a. The limit of nine back-references to subexpressions in the RE is based on the use of a single digit identifier. This does not imply that only nine subexpressions are allowed in REs. The following is a valid BRE with ten subexpressions:

4.

When a BRE matching a single character, a subexpression or a back-reference is followed by the special character asterisk (*), together with that asterisk it matches what zero or more consecutive occurrences of the BRE would match. For example, [ab]* and [ab][ab] are equivalent when matching the string ab.

5.

When a BRE matching a single character, a subexpression, or a back-reference is followed by an interval expression of the format \{m\}, \{m,\} or \{m,n\}, together with that interval expression it matches what repeated consecutive occurrences of the BRE would match. The values of m and n will be decimal integers in the range 0 ≤ m ≤ n ≤ {RE_DUP_MAX}, where m specifies the exact or minimum number of occurrences and n specifies the maximum number of occurrences. The expression \{m\} matches exactly m occurrences of the preceding BRE, \{m,\} matches at least m occurrences and \{m,n\} matches any number of occurrences between m and n, inclusive.

1.

A circumflex ( ^ ) is an anchor when used as the first character of an entire BRE. The implementation may treat circumflex as an anchor when used as the first character of a subexpression. The circumflex will anchor the expression to the beginning of a string; only sequences starting at the first character of a string will be matched by the BRE. For example, the BRE ^ab matches ab in the string abcdef, but fails to match in the string cdefab. A portable BRE must escape a leading circumflex in a subexpression to match a literal circumflex.

2.

A dollar sign ( $ ) is an anchor when used as the last character of an entire BRE. The implementation may treat a dollar sign as an anchor when used as the last character of a subexpression. The dollar sign will anchor the expression to the end of the string being matched; the dollar sign can be said to match the end-of-string following the last character.

3.

A BRE anchored by both ^ and $ matches only an entire string. For example, the BRE ^abcdef$ matches strings consisting only of abcdef.

4.

^ and $ are not special in subexpressions.

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The characters |, +, and ? have special meaning, as defined below.

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The { and } characters, when used as the duplication operator, are not preceded by backslashes. The constructs \{ and \} simply match the characters { and }, respectively.

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The back reference operator is not supported.

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Anchoring (^$) is supported in subexpressions.

)

The right-parenthesis is special when matched with a preceding left-parenthesis, both outside a bracket expression.

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if these characters appear first in an ERE, or immediately following a vertical-line, circumflex or left-parenthesis

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if a left-brace is not part of a valid interval expression.

|

^

The circumflex is special when used:

as an anchor (see ERE Expression Anchoring, below).

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as the first character of a bracket expression (see RE Bracket Expression, above).

$

1.

A concatenation of EREs matches the concatenation of the character sequences matched by each component of the ERE. A concatenation of EREs enclosed in parentheses matches whatever the concatenation without the parentheses matches. For example, both the ERE cd and the ERE (cd) are matched by the third and fourth character of the string abcdefabcdef.

2.

When an ERE matching a single character or an ERE enclosed in parentheses is followed by the special character plus-sign (+), together with that plus-sign it matches what one or more consecutive occurrences of the ERE would match. For example, the ERE b+(bc) matches the fourth to seventh characters in the string acabbbcde; [ab] + and [ab][ab]* are equivalent.

3.

When an ERE matching a single character or an ERE enclosed in parentheses is followed by the special character asterisk (*), together with that asterisk it matches what zero or more consecutive occurrences of the ERE would match. For example, the ERE b*c matches the first character in the string cabbbcde, and the ERE b*cd matches the third to seventh characters in the string cabbbcdebbbbbbcdbc. And, [ab]* and [ab][ab] are equivalent when matching the string ab.

4.

When an ERE matching a single character or an ERE enclosed in parentheses is followed by the special character question-mark (?), together with that question-mark it matches what zero or one consecutive occurrences of the ERE would match. For example, the ERE b?c matches the second character in the string acabbbcde.

5.

When an ERE matching a single character or an ERE enclosed in parentheses is followed by an interval expression of the format {m}, {m,} or {m,n}, together with that interval expression it matches what repeated consecutive occurrences of the ERE would match. The values of m and n will be decimal integers in the range 0 ≤ m ≤ n ≤ {RE_DUP_MAX}, where m specifies the exact or minimum number of occurrences and n specifies the maximum number of occurrences. The expression {m} matches exactly m occurrences of the preceding ERE, {m,} matches at least m occurrences and {m,n} matches any number of occurrences between m and n, inclusive.

1.

A circumflex (^) outside a bracket expression anchors the expression or subexpression it begins to the beginning of a string; such an expression or subexpression can match only a sequence starting at the first character of a string. For example, the EREs ^ab and (^ab) match ab in the string abcdef, but fail to match in the string cdefab, and the ERE a^b is valid, but can never match because the a prevents the expression ^b from matching starting at the first character.

2.

A dollar sign ( $ ) outside a bracket expression anchors the expression or subexpression it ends to the end of a string; such an expression or subexpression can match only a sequence ending at the last character of a string. For example, the EREs ef$ and (ef$) match ef in the string abcdef, but fail to match in the string cdefab, and the ERE e$f is valid, but can never match because the f prevents the expression e$ from matching ending at the last character.