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1=head1 NAME
2
3perlreref - Perl Regular Expressions Reference
4
5=head1 DESCRIPTION
6
7This is a quick reference to Perl's regular expressions.
8For full information see L<perlre> and L<perlop>, as well
6d014f17 9as the L</"SEE ALSO"> section in this document.
30487ceb 10
a5365663 11=head2 OPERATORS
30487ceb 12
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13C<=~> determines to which variable the regex is applied.
14In its absence, $_ is used.
30487ceb 15
e17472c5 16 $var =~ /foo/;
30487ceb 17
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18C<!~> determines to which variable the regex is applied,
19and negates the result of the match; it returns
20false if the match succeeds, and true if it fails.
6d014f17 21
e17472c5 22 $var !~ /foo/;
6d014f17 23
33be4c61 24C<m/pattern/msixpogcdualn> searches a string for a pattern match,
e17472c5 25applying the given options.
30487ceb 26
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27 m Multiline mode - ^ and $ match internal lines
28 s match as a Single line - . matches \n
29 i case-Insensitive
30 x eXtended legibility - free whitespace and comments
31 p Preserve a copy of the matched string -
32 ${^PREMATCH}, ${^MATCH}, ${^POSTMATCH} will be defined.
33 o compile pattern Once
34 g Global - all occurrences
35 c don't reset pos on failed matches when using /g
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36 a restrict \d, \s, \w and [:posix:] to match ASCII only
37 aa (two a's) also /i matches exclude ASCII/non-ASCII
38 l match according to current locale
39 u match according to Unicode rules
40 d match according to native rules unless something indicates
41 Unicode
33be4c61 42 n Non-capture mode. Don't let () fill in $1, $2, etc...
30487ceb 43
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44If 'pattern' is an empty string, the last I<successfully> matched
45regex is used. Delimiters other than '/' may be used for both this
64c5a566 46operator and the following ones. The leading C<m> can be omitted
e17472c5 47if the delimiter is '/'.
30487ceb 48
33be4c61 49C<qr/pattern/msixpodualn> lets you store a regex in a variable,
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50or pass one around. Modifiers as for C<m//>, and are stored
51within the regex.
30487ceb 52
b33bbe43 53C<s/pattern/replacement/msixpogcedual> substitutes matches of
e17472c5 54'pattern' with 'replacement'. Modifiers as for C<m//>,
4f4d7508 55with two additions:
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e17472c5 57 e Evaluate 'replacement' as an expression
4f4d7508 58 r Return substitution and leave the original string untouched.
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60'e' may be specified multiple times. 'replacement' is interpreted
61as a double quoted string unless a single-quote (C<'>) is the delimiter.
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63C<?pattern?> is like C<m/pattern/> but matches only once. No alternate
64delimiters can be used. Must be reset with reset().
30487ceb 65
a5365663 66=head2 SYNTAX
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68 \ Escapes the character immediately following it
69 . Matches any single character except a newline (unless /s is
70 used)
71 ^ Matches at the beginning of the string (or line, if /m is used)
72 $ Matches at the end of the string (or line, if /m is used)
73 * Matches the preceding element 0 or more times
74 + Matches the preceding element 1 or more times
75 ? Matches the preceding element 0 or 1 times
76 {...} Specifies a range of occurrences for the element preceding it
77 [...] Matches any one of the characters contained within the brackets
78 (...) Groups subexpressions for capturing to $1, $2...
79 (?:...) Groups subexpressions without capturing (cluster)
80 | Matches either the subexpression preceding or following it
9f4a55d4 81 \g1 or \g{1}, \g2 ... Matches the text from the Nth group
c27a5cfe 82 \1, \2, \3 ... Matches the text from the Nth group
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83 \g-1 or \g{-1}, \g-2 ... Matches the text from the Nth previous group
84 \g{name} Named backreference
85 \k<name> Named backreference
86 \k'name' Named backreference
87 (?P=name) Named backreference (python syntax)
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88
89=head2 ESCAPE SEQUENCES
90
91These work as in normal strings.
92
93 \a Alarm (beep)
94 \e Escape
95 \f Formfeed
96 \n Newline
97 \r Carriage return
98 \t Tab
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99 \037 Char whose ordinal is the 3 octal digits, max \777
100 \o{2307} Char whose ordinal is the octal number, unrestricted
101 \x7f Char whose ordinal is the 2 hex digits, max \xFF
102 \x{263a} Char whose ordinal is the hex number, unrestricted
30487ceb 103 \cx Control-x
fb121860 104 \N{name} A named Unicode character or character sequence
e526e8bb 105 \N{U+263D} A Unicode character by hex ordinal
30487ceb 106
6d014f17 107 \l Lowercase next character
d3b55b48 108 \u Titlecase next character
30487ceb 109 \L Lowercase until \E
d3b55b48 110 \U Uppercase until \E
628253b8 111 \F Foldcase until \E
30487ceb 112 \Q Disable pattern metacharacters until \E
e17472c5 113 \E End modification
30487ceb 114
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115For Titlecase, see L</Titlecase>.
116
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117This one works differently from normal strings:
118
119 \b An assertion, not backspace, except in a character class
120
121=head2 CHARACTER CLASSES
122
123 [amy] Match 'a', 'm' or 'y'
124 [f-j] Dash specifies "range"
125 [f-j-] Dash escaped or at start or end means 'dash'
6d014f17 126 [^f-j] Caret indicates "match any character _except_ these"
30487ceb 127
df225385 128The following sequences (except C<\N>) work within or without a character class.
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129The first six are locale aware, all are Unicode aware. See L<perllocale>
130and L<perlunicode> for details.
131
132 \d A digit
133 \D A nondigit
134 \w A word character
135 \W A non-word character
136 \s A whitespace character
137 \S A non-whitespace character
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138 \h An horizontal whitespace
139 \H A non horizontal whitespace
2171640d 140 \N A non newline (when not followed by '{NAME}';;
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141 not valid in a character class; equivalent to [^\n]; it's
142 like '.' without /s modifier)
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143 \v A vertical whitespace
144 \V A non vertical whitespace
e17472c5 145 \R A generic newline (?>\v|\x0D\x0A)
e04a154e 146
30487ceb 147 \pP Match P-named (Unicode) property
e1b711da 148 \p{...} Match Unicode property with name longer than 1 character
30487ceb 149 \PP Match non-P
e1b711da 150 \P{...} Match lack of Unicode property with name longer than 1 char
0111a78f 151 \X Match Unicode extended grapheme cluster
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152
153POSIX character classes and their Unicode and Perl equivalents:
154
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155 ASCII- Full-
156 POSIX range range backslash
157 [[:...:]] \p{...} \p{...} sequence Description
158
9f4a55d4 159 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
92c5714c 160 alnum PosixAlnum XPosixAlnum 'alpha' plus 'digit'
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161 alpha PosixAlpha XPosixAlpha Alphabetic characters
162 ascii ASCII Any ASCII character
163 blank PosixBlank XPosixBlank \h Horizontal whitespace;
164 full-range also
165 written as
166 \p{HorizSpace} (GNU
167 extension)
168 cntrl PosixCntrl XPosixCntrl Control characters
169 digit PosixDigit XPosixDigit \d Decimal digits
92c5714c 170 graph PosixGraph XPosixGraph 'alnum' plus 'punct'
cbc24f92 171 lower PosixLower XPosixLower Lowercase characters
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172 print PosixPrint XPosixPrint 'graph' plus 'space',
173 but not any Controls
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174 punct PosixPunct XPosixPunct Punctuation and Symbols
175 in ASCII-range; just
176 punct outside it
92c5714c 177 space PosixSpace XPosixSpace \s Whitespace
cbc24f92 178 upper PosixUpper XPosixUpper Uppercase characters
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179 word PosixWord XPosixWord \w 'alnum' + Unicode marks
180 + connectors, like
181 '_' (Perl extension)
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182 xdigit ASCII_Hex_Digit XPosixDigit Hexadecimal digit,
183 ASCII-range is
184 [0-9A-Fa-f]
185
186Also, various synonyms like C<\p{Alpha}> for C<\p{XPosixAlpha}>; all listed
187in L<perluniprops/Properties accessible through \p{} and \P{}>
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188
189Within a character class:
190
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191 POSIX traditional Unicode
192 [:digit:] \d \p{Digit}
193 [:^digit:] \D \P{Digit}
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194
195=head2 ANCHORS
196
197All are zero-width assertions.
198
199 ^ Match string start (or line, if /m is used)
200 $ Match string end (or line, if /m is used) or before newline
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201 \b{} Match boundary of type specified within the braces
202 \B{} Match wherever \b{} doesn't match
30487ceb 203 \b Match word boundary (between \w and \W)
6d014f17 204 \B Match except at word boundary (between \w and \w or \W and \W)
30487ceb 205 \A Match string start (regardless of /m)
6d014f17 206 \Z Match string end (before optional newline)
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207 \z Match absolute string end
208 \G Match where previous m//g left off
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209 \K Keep the stuff left of the \K, don't include it in $&
210
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211=head2 QUANTIFIERS
212
ac036724 213Quantifiers are greedy by default and match the B<longest> leftmost.
30487ceb 214
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215 Maximal Minimal Possessive Allowed range
216 ------- ------- ---------- -------------
217 {n,m} {n,m}? {n,m}+ Must occur at least n times
218 but no more than m times
219 {n,} {n,}? {n,}+ Must occur at least n times
220 {n} {n}? {n}+ Must occur exactly n times
221 * *? *+ 0 or more times (same as {0,})
222 + +? ++ 1 or more times (same as {1,})
223 ? ?? ?+ 0 or 1 time (same as {0,1})
224
225The possessive forms (new in Perl 5.10) prevent backtracking: what gets
226matched by a pattern with a possessive quantifier will not be backtracked
227into, even if that causes the whole match to fail.
30487ceb 228
ac036724 229There is no quantifier C<{,n}>. That's interpreted as a literal string.
6d014f17 230
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231=head2 EXTENDED CONSTRUCTS
232
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233 (?#text) A comment
234 (?:...) Groups subexpressions without capturing (cluster)
235 (?pimsx-imsx:...) Enable/disable option (as per m// modifiers)
236 (?=...) Zero-width positive lookahead assertion
237 (?!...) Zero-width negative lookahead assertion
238 (?<=...) Zero-width positive lookbehind assertion
239 (?<!...) Zero-width negative lookbehind assertion
240 (?>...) Grab what we can, prohibit backtracking
241 (?|...) Branch reset
242 (?<name>...) Named capture
243 (?'name'...) Named capture
244 (?P<name>...) Named capture (python syntax)
ea64e14e 245 (?[...]) Extended bracketed character class
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246 (?{ code }) Embedded code, return value becomes $^R
247 (??{ code }) Dynamic regex, return value used as regex
248 (?N) Recurse into subpattern number N
249 (?-N), (?+N) Recurse into Nth previous/next subpattern
250 (?R), (?0) Recurse at the beginning of the whole pattern
251 (?&name) Recurse into a named subpattern
252 (?P>name) Recurse into a named subpattern (python syntax)
253 (?(cond)yes|no)
254 (?(cond)yes) Conditional expression, where "cond" can be:
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255 (?=pat) lookahead
256 (?!pat) negative lookahead
257 (?<=pat) lookbehind
258 (?<!pat) negative lookbehind
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259 (N) subpattern N has matched something
260 (<name>) named subpattern has matched something
261 ('name') named subpattern has matched something
262 (?{code}) code condition
263 (R) true if recursing
264 (RN) true if recursing into Nth subpattern
265 (R&name) true if recursing into named subpattern
266 (DEFINE) always false, no no-pattern allowed
30487ceb 267
a5365663 268=head2 VARIABLES
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269
270 $_ Default variable for operators to use
30487ceb 271
30487ceb 272 $` Everything prior to matched string
e17472c5 273 $& Entire matched string
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274 $' Everything after to matched string
275
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276 ${^PREMATCH} Everything prior to matched string
277 ${^MATCH} Entire matched string
278 ${^POSTMATCH} Everything after to matched string
279
13b0f67d 280Note to those still using Perl 5.18 or earlier:
e17472c5 281The use of C<$`>, C<$&> or C<$'> will slow down B<all> regex use
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282within your program. Consult L<perlvar> for C<@->
283to see equivalent expressions that won't cause slow down.
284See also L<Devel::SawAmpersand>. Starting with Perl 5.10, you
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285can also use the equivalent variables C<${^PREMATCH}>, C<${^MATCH}>
286and C<${^POSTMATCH}>, but for them to be defined, you have to
287specify the C</p> (preserve) modifier on your regular expression.
13b0f67d 288In Perl 5.20, the use of C<$`>, C<$&> and C<$'> makes no speed difference.
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289
290 $1, $2 ... hold the Xth captured expr
291 $+ Last parenthesized pattern match
292 $^N Holds the most recently closed capture
293 $^R Holds the result of the last (?{...}) expr
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294 @- Offsets of starts of groups. $-[0] holds start of whole match
295 @+ Offsets of ends of groups. $+[0] holds end of whole match
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296 %+ Named capture groups
297 %- Named capture groups, as array refs
30487ceb 298
6d014f17 299Captured groups are numbered according to their I<opening> paren.
30487ceb 300
a5365663 301=head2 FUNCTIONS
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302
303 lc Lowercase a string
304 lcfirst Lowercase first char of a string
305 uc Uppercase a string
47e8a552 306 ucfirst Titlecase first char of a string
628253b8 307 fc Foldcase a string
47e8a552 308
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309 pos Return or set current match position
310 quotemeta Quote metacharacters
311 reset Reset ?pattern? status
312 study Analyze string for optimizing matching
313
e17472c5 314 split Use a regex to split a string into parts
30487ceb 315
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316The first five of these are like the escape sequences C<\L>, C<\l>,
317C<\U>, C<\u>, and C<\F>. For Titlecase, see L</Titlecase>; For
318Foldcase, see L</Foldcase>.
47e8a552 319
1501d360 320=head2 TERMINOLOGY
47e8a552 321
a5365663 322=head3 Titlecase
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323
324Unicode concept which most often is equal to uppercase, but for
325certain characters like the German "sharp s" there is a difference.
326
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327=head3 Foldcase
328
329Unicode form that is useful when comparing strings regardless of case,
211f3bbf 330as certain characters have complex one-to-many case mappings. Primarily a
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331variant of lowercase.
332
40506b5d 333=head1 AUTHOR
30487ceb 334
64c5a566 335Iain Truskett. Updated by the Perl 5 Porters.
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336
337This document may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself.
338
40506b5d 339=head1 SEE ALSO
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340
341=over 4
342
343=item *
344
345L<perlretut> for a tutorial on regular expressions.
346
347=item *
348
349L<perlrequick> for a rapid tutorial.
350
351=item *
352
353L<perlre> for more details.
354
355=item *
356
357L<perlvar> for details on the variables.
358
359=item *
360
361L<perlop> for details on the operators.
362
363=item *
364
365L<perlfunc> for details on the functions.
366
367=item *
368
369L<perlfaq6> for FAQs on regular expressions.
370
371=item *
372
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373L<perlrebackslash> for a reference on backslash sequences.
374
375=item *
376
377L<perlrecharclass> for a reference on character classes.
378
379=item *
380
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381The L<re> module to alter behaviour and aid
382debugging.
383
384=item *
385
57e8c15d 386L<perldebug/"Debugging Regular Expressions">
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387
388=item *
389
e17472c5 390L<perluniintro>, L<perlunicode>, L<charnames> and L<perllocale>
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391for details on regexes and internationalisation.
392
393=item *
394
395I<Mastering Regular Expressions> by Jeffrey Friedl
08d7a6b2 396(F<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528126/>) for a thorough grounding and
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397reference on the topic.
398
399=back
400
40506b5d 401=head1 THANKS
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402
403David P.C. Wollmann,
404Richard Soderberg,
405Sean M. Burke,
406Tom Christiansen,
e5a7b003 407Jim Cromie,
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408and
409Jeffrey Goff
410for useful advice.
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411
412=cut