xref: /dragonfly/lib/libcompat/4.3/re_comp.3 (revision 2cd2d2b5)
1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1991, 1993
2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
6.\" are met:
7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
12.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
13.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
14.\"	This product includes software developed by the University of
15.\"	California, Berkeley and its contributors.
16.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
17.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
18.\"    without specific prior written permission.
19.\"
20.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
21.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
22.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
23.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
24.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
25.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
26.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
27.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
28.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
29.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
30.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
31.\"
32.\"     @(#)re_comp.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
33.\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libcompat/4.3/re_comp.3,v 1.6.2.4 2001/12/17 10:08:29 ru Exp $
34.\" $DragonFly: src/lib/libcompat/4.3/re_comp.3,v 1.2 2003/06/17 04:26:48 dillon Exp $
35.\"
36.Dd June 4, 1993
37.Dt RE_COMP 3
38.Os
39.Sh NAME
40.Nm re_comp ,
41.Nm re_exec
42.Nd regular expression handler
43.Sh LIBRARY
44.Lb libcompat
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.In unistd.h
47.Ft char *
48.Fn re_comp "const char *s"
49.Ft int
50.Fn re_exec "const char *s"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52.Bf -symbolic
53This interface is made obsolete by
54.Xr regex 3 .
55.Ef
56.Pp
57The
58.Fn re_comp
59function
60compiles a string into an internal form suitable for pattern matching.
61The
62.Fn re_exec
63function
64checks the argument string against the last string passed to
65.Fn re_comp .
66.Pp
67The
68.Fn re_comp
69function
70returns 0 if the string
71.Fa s
72was compiled successfully; otherwise a string containing an
73error message is returned.
74If
75.Fn re_comp
76is passed 0 or a null string, it returns without changing the currently
77compiled regular expression.
78.Pp
79The
80.Fn re_exec
81function
82returns 1 if the string
83.Fa s
84matches the last compiled regular expression, 0 if the string
85.Fa s
86failed to match the last compiled regular expression, and \-1 if the compiled
87regular expression was invalid (indicating an internal error).
88.Pp
89The strings passed to both
90.Fn re_comp
91and
92.Fn re_exec
93may have trailing or embedded newline characters;
94they are terminated by
95.Dv NUL Ns s .
96The regular expressions recognized are described in the manual entry for
97.Xr ed 1 ,
98given the above difference.
99.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
100The
101.Fn re_exec
102function
103returns \-1 for an internal error.
104.Pp
105The
106.Fn re_comp
107function
108returns one of the following strings if an error occurs:
109.Bd -unfilled -offset indent
110No previous regular expression,
111Regular expression too long,
112unmatched \e(,
113missing ],
114too many \e(\e) pairs,
115unmatched \e).
116.Ed
117.Sh SEE ALSO
118.Xr ed 1 ,
119.Xr egrep 1 ,
120.Xr ex 1 ,
121.Xr fgrep 1 ,
122.Xr grep 1 ,
123.Xr regex 3
124.Sh HISTORY
125The
126.Fn re_comp
127and
128.Fn re_exec
129functions appeared in
130.Bx 4.0 .
131