pcre2_match(3) — Linux manual page
PCRE2_MATCH(3) Library Functions Manual PCRE2_MATCH(3)
NAME
PCRE2 - Perl-compatible regular expressions (revised API)
SYNOPSIS
#include <pcre2.h>
int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *code, PCRE2_SPTR subject,
PCRE2_SIZE length, PCRE2_SIZE startoffset,
uint32_t options, pcre2_match_data *match_data,
pcre2_match_context *mcontext);
DESCRIPTION
This function matches a compiled regular expression against a
given subject string, using a matching algorithm that is similar
to Perl's. It returns offsets to what it has matched and to
captured substrings via the match_data block, which can be
processed by functions with names that start with
pcre2_get_ovector_...() or pcre2_substring_...(). The return from
pcre2_match() is one more than the highest numbered capturing
pair that has been set (for example, 1 if there are no captures),
zero if the vector of offsets is too small, or a negative error
code for no match and other errors. The function arguments are:
code Points to the compiled pattern
subject Points to the subject string
length Length of the subject string
startoffset Offset in the subject at which to start matching
options Option bits
match_data Points to a match data block, for results
mcontext Points to a match context, or is NULL
A match context is needed only if you want to:
Set up a callout function
Set a matching offset limit
Change the heap memory limit
Change the backtracking match limit
Change the backtracking depth limit
Set custom memory management specifically for the match
The length and startoffset values are code units, not characters.
The length may be given as PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED for a subject
that is terminated by a binary zero code unit. The options are:
PCRE2_ANCHORED Match only at the first position
PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT
On success, make a private subject copy
PCRE2_DISABLE_RECURSELOOP_CHECK
Only useful in rare cases; use with
care
PCRE2_ENDANCHORED Pattern can match only at end of
subject
PCRE2_NOTBOL Subject string is not the beginning of
a line
PCRE2_NOTEOL Subject string is not the end of a line
PCRE2_NOTEMPTY An empty string is not a valid match
PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART An empty string at the start of the
subject
is not a valid match
PCRE2_NO_JIT Do not use JIT matching
PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK Do not check the subject for UTF
validity (only relevant if PCRE2_UTF
was set at compile time)
PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a
partial
match even if there is a full match
PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a
partial
match if no full matches are found
For details of partial matching, see the pcre2partial page. There
is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the pcre2api
page and a description of the POSIX API in the pcre2posix page.
COLOPHON
This page is part of the PCRE (Perl Compatible Regular
Expressions) project. Information about the project can be found
at ⟨http://www.pcre.org/⟩. If you have a bug report for this
manual page, see
⟨http://bugs.exim.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=PCRE⟩. This page was
obtained from the tarball fetched from
⟨https://github.com/PhilipHazel/pcre2.git⟩ on 2024-06-14. If you
discover any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page,
or you believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for
the page, or you have corrections or improvements to the
information in this COLOPHON (which is not part of the original
manual page), send a mail to man-pages@man7.org