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regexp(3X)							    regexp(3X)

NAME
       compile(),  step(),  advance()  -  regular expression compile and match
       routines

SYNOPSIS
   Remarks
       Features documented in this manual entry are  obsolescent  and  may  be
       removed	in  a  future  HP-UX  release.	 Use  of regcomp(3C) functions
       instead is recommended.

DESCRIPTION
       These functions are general-purpose regular  expression	matching  rou‐
       tines to be used in programs that perform Basic Regular Expression (see
       regexp(5)) matching.  These functions are defined in

       The functions and do pattern matching given a character	string	and  a
       compiled regular expression as input.  takes a Basic Regular Expression
       as input and produces a compiled expression that can be used with and

       The interface to this file  is  unpleasantly  complex.	Programs  that
       include	this  file must have the following five macros declared before
       the statement.  These macros are used by the routine.

       Return the value of the next byte
		      in the regular expression pattern.  Successive calls  to
		      should  return  successive  bytes of the regular expres‐
		      sion.

       Return the next byte in the regular
		      expression.  Successive calls to should return the  same
		      byte (which should also be the next byte returned by

       Cause the argument
		      c	 to  be returned by the next call to (and No more than
		      one byte of pushback is ever needed, and	this  byte  is
		      guaranteed  to be the last byte read by The value of the
		      macro is always ignored.

       This macro is used on normal exit of the
		      routine.	The value of the argument pointer is a pointer
		      to  the  character  after the last character of the com‐
		      piled regular expression.	 This is  useful  to  programs
		      that must manage memory allocation.

       This is the abnormal return from the
		      routine.	The argument val is an error number (see table
		      below for meanings).  This call should never return.
			   11	   Range   endpoint
				   too large.
			   16	   Bad number.
			   25	   ``\digit''	out
				   of range.
			   36	   Illegal or miss‐
				   ing delimiter.
			   41	   No	 remembered
				   search string.
			   42	   imbalance.
			   43	   Too many
			   44	   More than 2 num‐
				   bers given in
			   45	   expected after
			   46	   First     number
				   exceeds   second
				   in
			   49	   imbalance.
			   50	   Regular  expres‐
				   sion overflow.

       The syntax of the routine is as follows:

       The first parameter instring is	never  used
       explicitly by the routine, but is useful for
       programs that pass down	different  pointers
       to  input  characters.  It is sometimes used
       in the declaration  (see	 below).   Programs
       that  call  functions to input characters or
       have characters in  an  external	 array	can
       pass down a value of for this parameter.

       The  next  parameter  expbuf  is a character
       pointer.	 It points to  the  location  where
       the  compiled  regular  expression  will	 be
       placed.

       The parameter endbuf is one  more  than	the
       highest	address	 where the compiled regular
       expression can be placed.  If  the  compiled
       expression  cannot  fit	in  (endbuf−expbuf)
       bytes, a call to is made.

       The parameter eof  is  the  character  which
       marks  the  end	of  the regular expression.
       For example, in	ed(1),	this  character	 is
       usually a

       Each  program  that  includes this file must
       have a  statement  for  This  definition	 is
       placed  right  after the declaration for the
       function and the opening curly brace  It	 is
       used for dependent declarations and initial‐
       izations.  Most often it is used	 to  set  a
       register	 variable to point to the beginning
       of the regular expression so that this  reg‐
       ister  variable	can be used in the declara‐
       tions for and Otherwise it can  be  used	 to
       declare	external  variables  that  might be
       used by and See the  example  below  of	the
       declarations taken from grep(1).

       also   performs	actual	regular	 expression
       matching in this file.  The call to step	 is
       as follows:

       The  first  parameter  to  is a pointer to a
       string of characters to	be  checked  for  a
       match.	This  string  should be null-termi‐
       nated.

       The second parameter expbuf is the  compiled
       regular	expression  that  was obtained by a
       call to

       returns non-zero if the given string matches
       the  regular  expression,  and  zero  if the
       expressions do not match.   If  there  is  a
       match,  two  external character pointers are
       set as a side effect  to	 the  call  to	The
       variable	 set in is This is a pointer to the
       first character	that  matched  the  regular
       expression.   The  variable  which is set by
       the function points to the  character  after
       the  last character that matches the regular
       expression.  Thus, if the regular expression
       matches the entire line, points to the first
       character of string and points to  the  null
       at the end of string.

       uses  the  external variable which is set by
       if the regular  expression  begins  with	 If
       this  is	 set,  tries  to  match the regular
       expression to the beginning  of	the  string
       only.   If  more than one regular expression
       is to be compiled before the first  is  exe‐
       cuted,  the  value  of circf should be saved
       for  each  compiled  expression	and   circf
       should  be  set	to  that saved value before
       each call to

       is called from with the	same  arguments	 as
       The purpose of is to step through the string
       argument and call  until	 returns  non-zero,
       which indicates a match, or until the end of
       string is reached.  To constrain	 string	 to
       beginning-of-line  in all cases, need not be
       called; simply call

       When encounters a or sequence in the regular
       expression,  it	advances its pointer to the
       string to be matched as far as possible	and
       recursively  calls  itself,  trying to match
       the rest of the string to the  rest  of	the
       regular	expression.  As long as there is no
       match, advance backs  up	 along	the  string
       until  it finds a match or reaches the point
       in the string that initially matched the	 or
       It is sometimes desirable to stop this back‐
       ing up  before  the  initial  point  in	the
       string  is reached.  If the external charac‐
       ter pointer is equal to	the  point  in	the
       string  at  sometime  during  the backing up
       process, breaks out of the loop	that  backs
       up  and returns zero.  This is used by ed(1)
       and sed(1) for substitutions  done  globally
       (not  just  the	first  occurrence,  but the
       whole line)  so,	 for  example,	expressions
       such as do not loop forever.

       The  additional	external  variables and are
       used for special purposes.

EXTERNAL INFLUENCES
   Locale
       The  category   determines   the	  collating
       sequence	 used  in  compiling  and executing
       regular expressions.

       The category determines	the  interpretation
       of  text as single and/or multi-byte charac‐
       ters, and the characters matched by  charac‐
       ter  class  expressions	in  regular expres‐
       sions.

   International Code Set Support
       Single- and multi-byte character	 code  sets
       are supported.

EXAMPLES
       The following is an example of how the regu‐
       lar expression macros and  calls	 look  from
       grep(1):

		   ...
		   ...

SEE ALSO
       grep(1),	 regcomp(3C),  setlocale(3C),  reg‐
       exp(5).

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE
								    regexp(3X)
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