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30487ceb RGS |
1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | ||
3 | perlreref - Perl Regular Expressions Reference | |
4 | ||
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION | |
6 | ||
7 | This is a quick reference to Perl's regular expressions. | |
8 | For full information see L<perlre> and L<perlop>, as well | |
6d014f17 | 9 | as the L</"SEE ALSO"> section in this document. |
30487ceb | 10 | |
a5365663 | 11 | =head2 OPERATORS |
30487ceb | 12 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
13 | C<=~> determines to which variable the regex is applied. |
14 | In its absence, $_ is used. | |
30487ceb | 15 | |
e17472c5 | 16 | $var =~ /foo/; |
30487ceb | 17 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
18 | C<!~> determines to which variable the regex is applied, |
19 | and negates the result of the match; it returns | |
20 | false if the match succeeds, and true if it fails. | |
6d014f17 | 21 | |
e17472c5 | 22 | $var !~ /foo/; |
6d014f17 | 23 | |
b33bbe43 | 24 | C<m/pattern/msixpogcdual> searches a string for a pattern match, |
e17472c5 | 25 | applying the given options. |
30487ceb | 26 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
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 | |
b33bbe43 KW |
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 | |
30487ceb | 42 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
43 | If 'pattern' is an empty string, the last I<successfully> matched |
44 | regex is used. Delimiters other than '/' may be used for both this | |
64c5a566 | 45 | operator and the following ones. The leading C<m> can be omitted |
e17472c5 | 46 | if the delimiter is '/'. |
30487ceb | 47 | |
b33bbe43 | 48 | C<qr/pattern/msixpodual> lets you store a regex in a variable, |
e17472c5 RGS |
49 | or pass one around. Modifiers as for C<m//>, and are stored |
50 | within the regex. | |
30487ceb | 51 | |
b33bbe43 | 52 | C<s/pattern/replacement/msixpogcedual> substitutes matches of |
e17472c5 | 53 | 'pattern' with 'replacement'. Modifiers as for C<m//>, |
4f4d7508 | 54 | with two additions: |
30487ceb | 55 | |
e17472c5 | 56 | e Evaluate 'replacement' as an expression |
4f4d7508 | 57 | r Return substitution and leave the original string untouched. |
30487ceb | 58 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
59 | 'e' may be specified multiple times. 'replacement' is interpreted |
60 | as a double quoted string unless a single-quote (C<'>) is the delimiter. | |
30487ceb | 61 | |
e17472c5 RGS |
62 | C<?pattern?> is like C<m/pattern/> but matches only once. No alternate |
63 | delimiters can be used. Must be reset with reset(). | |
30487ceb | 64 | |
a5365663 | 65 | =head2 SYNTAX |
30487ceb | 66 | |
9f4a55d4 KW |
67 | \ Escapes the character immediately following it |
68 | . Matches any single character except a newline (unless /s is | |
69 | used) | |
70 | ^ Matches at the beginning of the string (or line, if /m is used) | |
71 | $ Matches at the end of the string (or line, if /m is used) | |
72 | * Matches the preceding element 0 or more times | |
73 | + Matches the preceding element 1 or more times | |
74 | ? Matches the preceding element 0 or 1 times | |
75 | {...} Specifies a range of occurrences for the element preceding it | |
76 | [...] Matches any one of the characters contained within the brackets | |
77 | (...) Groups subexpressions for capturing to $1, $2... | |
78 | (?:...) Groups subexpressions without capturing (cluster) | |
79 | | Matches either the subexpression preceding or following it | |
9f4a55d4 | 80 | \g1 or \g{1}, \g2 ... Matches the text from the Nth group |
c27a5cfe | 81 | \1, \2, \3 ... Matches the text from the Nth group |
9f4a55d4 KW |
82 | \g-1 or \g{-1}, \g-2 ... Matches the text from the Nth previous group |
83 | \g{name} Named backreference | |
84 | \k<name> Named backreference | |
85 | \k'name' Named backreference | |
86 | (?P=name) Named backreference (python syntax) | |
30487ceb RGS |
87 | |
88 | =head2 ESCAPE SEQUENCES | |
89 | ||
90 | These work as in normal strings. | |
91 | ||
92 | \a Alarm (beep) | |
93 | \e Escape | |
94 | \f Formfeed | |
95 | \n Newline | |
96 | \r Carriage return | |
97 | \t Tab | |
e54859e6 KW |
98 | \037 Char whose ordinal is the 3 octal digits, max \777 |
99 | \o{2307} Char whose ordinal is the octal number, unrestricted | |
100 | \x7f Char whose ordinal is the 2 hex digits, max \xFF | |
101 | \x{263a} Char whose ordinal is the hex number, unrestricted | |
30487ceb | 102 | \cx Control-x |
fb121860 | 103 | \N{name} A named Unicode character or character sequence |
e526e8bb | 104 | \N{U+263D} A Unicode character by hex ordinal |
30487ceb | 105 | |
6d014f17 | 106 | \l Lowercase next character |
d3b55b48 | 107 | \u Titlecase next character |
30487ceb | 108 | \L Lowercase until \E |
d3b55b48 | 109 | \U Uppercase until \E |
628253b8 | 110 | \F Foldcase until \E |
30487ceb | 111 | \Q Disable pattern metacharacters until \E |
e17472c5 | 112 | \E End modification |
30487ceb | 113 | |
47e8a552 IT |
114 | For Titlecase, see L</Titlecase>. |
115 | ||
30487ceb RGS |
116 | This one works differently from normal strings: |
117 | ||
118 | \b An assertion, not backspace, except in a character class | |
119 | ||
120 | =head2 CHARACTER CLASSES | |
121 | ||
122 | [amy] Match 'a', 'm' or 'y' | |
123 | [f-j] Dash specifies "range" | |
124 | [f-j-] Dash escaped or at start or end means 'dash' | |
6d014f17 | 125 | [^f-j] Caret indicates "match any character _except_ these" |
30487ceb | 126 | |
df225385 | 127 | The following sequences (except C<\N>) work within or without a character class. |
e17472c5 RGS |
128 | The first six are locale aware, all are Unicode aware. See L<perllocale> |
129 | and L<perlunicode> for details. | |
130 | ||
131 | \d A digit | |
132 | \D A nondigit | |
133 | \w A word character | |
134 | \W A non-word character | |
135 | \s A whitespace character | |
136 | \S A non-whitespace character | |
418e7b04 KW |
137 | \h An horizontal whitespace |
138 | \H A non horizontal whitespace | |
2171640d | 139 | \N A non newline (when not followed by '{NAME}';; |
9f4a55d4 KW |
140 | not valid in a character class; equivalent to [^\n]; it's |
141 | like '.' without /s modifier) | |
418e7b04 KW |
142 | \v A vertical whitespace |
143 | \V A non vertical whitespace | |
e17472c5 | 144 | \R A generic newline (?>\v|\x0D\x0A) |
e04a154e JH |
145 | |
146 | \C Match a byte (with Unicode, '.' matches a character) | |
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 |
30487ceb RGS |
152 | |
153 | POSIX character classes and their Unicode and Perl equivalents: | |
154 | ||
cbc24f92 KW |
155 | ASCII- Full- |
156 | POSIX range range backslash | |
157 | [[:...:]] \p{...} \p{...} sequence Description | |
158 | ||
9f4a55d4 | 159 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
cbc24f92 KW |
160 | alnum PosixAlnum XPosixAlnum Alpha plus Digit |
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 | |
170 | graph PosixGraph XPosixGraph Alnum plus Punct | |
171 | lower PosixLower XPosixLower Lowercase characters | |
172 | print PosixPrint XPosixPrint Graph plus Print, but | |
173 | not any Cntrls | |
174 | punct PosixPunct XPosixPunct Punctuation and Symbols | |
175 | in ASCII-range; just | |
176 | punct outside it | |
7f04f24f | 177 | space PosixSpace XPosixSpace [\s\cK] |
cbc24f92 KW |
178 | PerlSpace XPerlSpace \s Perl's whitespace def'n |
179 | upper PosixUpper XPosixUpper Uppercase characters | |
e6e3f926 | 180 | word PosixWord XPosixWord \w Alnum + Unicode marks + |
d35dd6c6 KW |
181 | connectors, like '_' |
182 | (Perl extension) | |
cbc24f92 KW |
183 | xdigit ASCII_Hex_Digit XPosixDigit Hexadecimal digit, |
184 | ASCII-range is | |
185 | [0-9A-Fa-f] | |
186 | ||
187 | Also, various synonyms like C<\p{Alpha}> for C<\p{XPosixAlpha}>; all listed | |
188 | in L<perluniprops/Properties accessible through \p{} and \P{}> | |
30487ceb RGS |
189 | |
190 | Within a character class: | |
191 | ||
9f4a55d4 KW |
192 | POSIX traditional Unicode |
193 | [:digit:] \d \p{Digit} | |
194 | [:^digit:] \D \P{Digit} | |
30487ceb RGS |
195 | |
196 | =head2 ANCHORS | |
197 | ||
198 | All are zero-width assertions. | |
199 | ||
200 | ^ Match string start (or line, if /m is used) | |
201 | $ Match string end (or line, if /m is used) or before newline | |
202 | \b Match word boundary (between \w and \W) | |
6d014f17 | 203 | \B Match except at word boundary (between \w and \w or \W and \W) |
30487ceb | 204 | \A Match string start (regardless of /m) |
6d014f17 | 205 | \Z Match string end (before optional newline) |
30487ceb RGS |
206 | \z Match absolute string end |
207 | \G Match where previous m//g left off | |
64c5a566 RGS |
208 | \K Keep the stuff left of the \K, don't include it in $& |
209 | ||
30487ceb RGS |
210 | =head2 QUANTIFIERS |
211 | ||
ac036724 | 212 | Quantifiers are greedy by default and match the B<longest> leftmost. |
30487ceb | 213 | |
64c5a566 RGS |
214 | Maximal Minimal Possessive Allowed range |
215 | ------- ------- ---------- ------------- | |
216 | {n,m} {n,m}? {n,m}+ Must occur at least n times | |
217 | but no more than m times | |
218 | {n,} {n,}? {n,}+ Must occur at least n times | |
219 | {n} {n}? {n}+ Must occur exactly n times | |
220 | * *? *+ 0 or more times (same as {0,}) | |
221 | + +? ++ 1 or more times (same as {1,}) | |
222 | ? ?? ?+ 0 or 1 time (same as {0,1}) | |
223 | ||
224 | The possessive forms (new in Perl 5.10) prevent backtracking: what gets | |
225 | matched by a pattern with a possessive quantifier will not be backtracked | |
226 | into, even if that causes the whole match to fail. | |
30487ceb | 227 | |
ac036724 | 228 | There is no quantifier C<{,n}>. That's interpreted as a literal string. |
6d014f17 | 229 | |
30487ceb RGS |
230 | =head2 EXTENDED CONSTRUCTS |
231 | ||
64c5a566 RGS |
232 | (?#text) A comment |
233 | (?:...) Groups subexpressions without capturing (cluster) | |
234 | (?pimsx-imsx:...) Enable/disable option (as per m// modifiers) | |
235 | (?=...) Zero-width positive lookahead assertion | |
236 | (?!...) Zero-width negative lookahead assertion | |
237 | (?<=...) Zero-width positive lookbehind assertion | |
238 | (?<!...) Zero-width negative lookbehind assertion | |
239 | (?>...) Grab what we can, prohibit backtracking | |
240 | (?|...) Branch reset | |
241 | (?<name>...) Named capture | |
242 | (?'name'...) Named capture | |
243 | (?P<name>...) Named capture (python syntax) | |
244 | (?{ code }) Embedded code, return value becomes $^R | |
245 | (??{ code }) Dynamic regex, return value used as regex | |
246 | (?N) Recurse into subpattern number N | |
247 | (?-N), (?+N) Recurse into Nth previous/next subpattern | |
248 | (?R), (?0) Recurse at the beginning of the whole pattern | |
249 | (?&name) Recurse into a named subpattern | |
250 | (?P>name) Recurse into a named subpattern (python syntax) | |
251 | (?(cond)yes|no) | |
252 | (?(cond)yes) Conditional expression, where "cond" can be: | |
41ef34de ML |
253 | (?=pat) look-ahead |
254 | (?!pat) negative look-ahead | |
255 | (?<=pat) look-behind | |
256 | (?<!pat) negative look-behind | |
64c5a566 RGS |
257 | (N) subpattern N has matched something |
258 | (<name>) named subpattern has matched something | |
259 | ('name') named subpattern has matched something | |
260 | (?{code}) code condition | |
261 | (R) true if recursing | |
262 | (RN) true if recursing into Nth subpattern | |
263 | (R&name) true if recursing into named subpattern | |
264 | (DEFINE) always false, no no-pattern allowed | |
30487ceb | 265 | |
a5365663 | 266 | =head2 VARIABLES |
30487ceb RGS |
267 | |
268 | $_ Default variable for operators to use | |
30487ceb | 269 | |
30487ceb | 270 | $` Everything prior to matched string |
e17472c5 | 271 | $& Entire matched string |
30487ceb RGS |
272 | $' Everything after to matched string |
273 | ||
e17472c5 RGS |
274 | ${^PREMATCH} Everything prior to matched string |
275 | ${^MATCH} Entire matched string | |
276 | ${^POSTMATCH} Everything after to matched string | |
277 | ||
13b0f67d | 278 | Note to those still using Perl 5.18 or earlier: |
e17472c5 | 279 | The use of C<$`>, C<$&> or C<$'> will slow down B<all> regex use |
e1fd4132 DM |
280 | within your program. Consult L<perlvar> for C<@-> |
281 | to see equivalent expressions that won't cause slow down. | |
282 | See also L<Devel::SawAmpersand>. Starting with Perl 5.10, you | |
e17472c5 RGS |
283 | can also use the equivalent variables C<${^PREMATCH}>, C<${^MATCH}> |
284 | and C<${^POSTMATCH}>, but for them to be defined, you have to | |
285 | specify the C</p> (preserve) modifier on your regular expression. | |
13b0f67d | 286 | In Perl 5.20, the use of C<$`>, C<$&> and C<$'> makes no speed difference. |
30487ceb RGS |
287 | |
288 | $1, $2 ... hold the Xth captured expr | |
289 | $+ Last parenthesized pattern match | |
290 | $^N Holds the most recently closed capture | |
291 | $^R Holds the result of the last (?{...}) expr | |
6d014f17 JH |
292 | @- Offsets of starts of groups. $-[0] holds start of whole match |
293 | @+ Offsets of ends of groups. $+[0] holds end of whole match | |
c27a5cfe KW |
294 | %+ Named capture groups |
295 | %- Named capture groups, as array refs | |
30487ceb | 296 | |
6d014f17 | 297 | Captured groups are numbered according to their I<opening> paren. |
30487ceb | 298 | |
a5365663 | 299 | =head2 FUNCTIONS |
30487ceb RGS |
300 | |
301 | lc Lowercase a string | |
302 | lcfirst Lowercase first char of a string | |
303 | uc Uppercase a string | |
47e8a552 | 304 | ucfirst Titlecase first char of a string |
628253b8 | 305 | fc Foldcase a string |
47e8a552 | 306 | |
30487ceb RGS |
307 | pos Return or set current match position |
308 | quotemeta Quote metacharacters | |
309 | reset Reset ?pattern? status | |
310 | study Analyze string for optimizing matching | |
311 | ||
e17472c5 | 312 | split Use a regex to split a string into parts |
30487ceb | 313 | |
628253b8 BF |
314 | The first five of these are like the escape sequences C<\L>, C<\l>, |
315 | C<\U>, C<\u>, and C<\F>. For Titlecase, see L</Titlecase>; For | |
316 | Foldcase, see L</Foldcase>. | |
47e8a552 | 317 | |
1501d360 | 318 | =head2 TERMINOLOGY |
47e8a552 | 319 | |
a5365663 | 320 | =head3 Titlecase |
47e8a552 IT |
321 | |
322 | Unicode concept which most often is equal to uppercase, but for | |
323 | certain characters like the German "sharp s" there is a difference. | |
324 | ||
628253b8 BF |
325 | =head3 Foldcase |
326 | ||
327 | Unicode form that is useful when comparing strings regardless of case, | |
211f3bbf | 328 | as certain characters have complex one-to-many case mappings. Primarily a |
628253b8 BF |
329 | variant of lowercase. |
330 | ||
40506b5d | 331 | =head1 AUTHOR |
30487ceb | 332 | |
64c5a566 | 333 | Iain Truskett. Updated by the Perl 5 Porters. |
30487ceb RGS |
334 | |
335 | This document may be distributed under the same terms as Perl itself. | |
336 | ||
40506b5d | 337 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
30487ceb RGS |
338 | |
339 | =over 4 | |
340 | ||
341 | =item * | |
342 | ||
343 | L<perlretut> for a tutorial on regular expressions. | |
344 | ||
345 | =item * | |
346 | ||
347 | L<perlrequick> for a rapid tutorial. | |
348 | ||
349 | =item * | |
350 | ||
351 | L<perlre> for more details. | |
352 | ||
353 | =item * | |
354 | ||
355 | L<perlvar> for details on the variables. | |
356 | ||
357 | =item * | |
358 | ||
359 | L<perlop> for details on the operators. | |
360 | ||
361 | =item * | |
362 | ||
363 | L<perlfunc> for details on the functions. | |
364 | ||
365 | =item * | |
366 | ||
367 | L<perlfaq6> for FAQs on regular expressions. | |
368 | ||
369 | =item * | |
370 | ||
64c5a566 RGS |
371 | L<perlrebackslash> for a reference on backslash sequences. |
372 | ||
373 | =item * | |
374 | ||
375 | L<perlrecharclass> for a reference on character classes. | |
376 | ||
377 | =item * | |
378 | ||
30487ceb RGS |
379 | The L<re> module to alter behaviour and aid |
380 | debugging. | |
381 | ||
382 | =item * | |
383 | ||
57e8c15d | 384 | L<perldebug/"Debugging Regular Expressions"> |
30487ceb RGS |
385 | |
386 | =item * | |
387 | ||
e17472c5 | 388 | L<perluniintro>, L<perlunicode>, L<charnames> and L<perllocale> |
30487ceb RGS |
389 | for details on regexes and internationalisation. |
390 | ||
391 | =item * | |
392 | ||
393 | I<Mastering Regular Expressions> by Jeffrey Friedl | |
08d7a6b2 | 394 | (F<http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596528126/>) for a thorough grounding and |
30487ceb RGS |
395 | reference on the topic. |
396 | ||
397 | =back | |
398 | ||
40506b5d | 399 | =head1 THANKS |
30487ceb RGS |
400 | |
401 | David P.C. Wollmann, | |
402 | Richard Soderberg, | |
403 | Sean M. Burke, | |
404 | Tom Christiansen, | |
e5a7b003 | 405 | Jim Cromie, |
30487ceb RGS |
406 | and |
407 | Jeffrey Goff | |
408 | for useful advice. | |
6d014f17 JH |
409 | |
410 | =cut |