3 <title>pcre2_match specification</title>
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6 <h1>pcre2_match man page</h1>
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19 <b>#include <pcre2.h></b>
22 <b>int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *<i>code</i>, PCRE2_SPTR <i>subject</i>,</b>
23 <b> PCRE2_SIZE <i>length</i>, PCRE2_SIZE <i>startoffset</i>,</b>
24 <b> uint32_t <i>options</i>, pcre2_match_data *<i>match_data</i>,</b>
25 <b> pcre2_match_context *<i>mcontext</i>);</b>
31 This function matches a compiled regular expression against a given subject
32 string, using a matching algorithm that is similar to Perl's. It returns
33 offsets to what it has matched and to captured substrings via the
34 <b>match_data</b> block, which can be processed by functions with names that
35 start with <b>pcre2_get_ovector_...()</b> or <b>pcre2_substring_...()</b>. The
36 return from <b>pcre2_match()</b> is one more than the highest numbered capturing
37 pair that has been set (for example, 1 if there are no captures), zero if the
38 vector of offsets is too small, or a negative error code for no match and other
39 errors. The function arguments are:
41 <i>code</i> Points to the compiled pattern
42 <i>subject</i> Points to the subject string
43 <i>length</i> Length of the subject string
44 <i>startoffset</i> Offset in the subject at which to start matching
45 <i>options</i> Option bits
46 <i>match_data</i> Points to a match data block, for results
47 <i>mcontext</i> Points to a match context, or is NULL
49 A match context is needed only if you want to:
51 Set up a callout function
52 Set a matching offset limit
53 Change the heap memory limit
54 Change the backtracking match limit
55 Change the backtracking depth limit
56 Set custom memory management specifically for the match
58 The <i>length</i> and <i>startoffset</i> values are code
59 units, not characters. The length may be given as PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATE for a
60 subject that is terminated by a binary zero code unit. The options are:
62 PCRE2_ANCHORED Match only at the first position
63 PCRE2_ENDANCHORED Pattern can match only at end of subject
64 PCRE2_NOTBOL Subject string is not the beginning of a line
65 PCRE2_NOTEOL Subject string is not the end of a line
66 PCRE2_NOTEMPTY An empty string is not a valid match
67 PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART An empty string at the start of the subject is not a valid match
68 PCRE2_NO_JIT Do not use JIT matching
69 PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK Do not check the subject for UTF validity (only relevant if PCRE2_UTF
70 was set at compile time)
71 PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match even if there is a full match
72 PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match if no full matches are found
74 For details of partial matching, see the
75 <a href="pcre2partial.html"><b>pcre2partial</b></a>
76 page. There is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the
77 <a href="pcre2api.html"><b>pcre2api</b></a>
78 page and a description of the POSIX API in the
79 <a href="pcre2posix.html"><b>pcre2posix</b></a>
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