re_exec(3C)
NAME
re_comp, re_exec - compile and execute regular expressions
SYNOPSIS
#include <re_comp.h>
char *re_comp(const char *string);
int re_exec(const char *string);
DESCRIPTION
The re_comp() function converts a regular expression string
(RE) into an internal form suitable for pattern matching.
The re_exec() function compares the string pointed to by the
string argument with the last regular expression passed to
re_comp().
If re_comp() is called with a null pointer argument, the
current regular expression remains unchanged.
Strings passed to both re_comp() and re_exec() must be ter-
minated by a null byte, and may include NEWLINE characters.
The re_comp() and re_exec() functions support simple regular
expressions, which are defined on the regexp(5) manual page.
The regular expressions of the form \{m\}, \{m,\}, or
\{m,n\} are not supported.
RETURN VALUES
The re_comp() function returns a null pointer when the
string pointed to by the string argument is successfully
converted. Otherwise, a pointer to one of the following
error message strings is returned:
No previous regular expression
Regular expression too long
unmatched \(
missing ]
too many \(\) pairs
unmatched \)
Upon successful completion, re_exec() returns 1 if string
matches the last compiled regular expression. Otherwise,
re_exec() returns 0 if string fails to match the last com-
piled regular expression, and -1 if the compiled regular
expression is invalid (indicating an internal error).
ERRORS
No errors are defined.
USAGE
For portability to implementations conforming to X/Open
standards prior to SUS, regcomp(3C) and regexec(3C) are pre-
ferred to these functions. See standards(5).
SEE ALSO
grep(1), regcmp(1), regcmp(3C), regcomp(3C), regexec(3C),
regexpr(3GEN), regexp(5), standards(5)
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