comparison man/search.texi @ 28063:f1b33463506d

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are non-greedy variants of the operators above.  The normal operators
@samp{*}, @samp{+}, @samp{?} are @dfn{greedy} in that they match as much
as they can, while if you append a @samp{?} after them, it makes them
non-greedy: they will match as little as possible.

@item \@{n,m\@}
is another postfix operator that specifies an interval of iteration:
the preceding regular expression must match between @samp{n} and
@samp{m} times.  If @samp{m} is omitted, then there is no upper bound
and if @samp{,m} is omitted, then the regular expression must match
exactly @samp{n} times.				@*
@samp{\@{0,1\@}} is equivalent to @samp{?}.	@*
@samp{\@{0,\@}} is equivalent to @samp{*}.	@*
@samp{\@{1,\@}} is equivalent to @samp{+}.	@*
@samp{\@{n\@}} is equivalent to @samp{\@{n,n\@}}.

@item [ @dots{} ]
is a @dfn{character set}, which begins with @samp{[} and is terminated
by @samp{]}.  In the simplest case, the characters between the two
brackets are what this set can match.

@end enumerate

This last application is not a consequence of the idea of a
parenthetical grouping; it is a separate feature that is assigned as a
second meaning to the same @samp{\( @dots{} \)} construct.  In practice
there is no conflict between the two meanings.

@item \@var{d}
matches the same text that matched the @var{d}th occurrence of a
@samp{\( @dots{} \)} construct.

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are non-greedy variants of the operators above.  The normal operators
@samp{*}, @samp{+}, @samp{?} are @dfn{greedy} in that they match as much
as they can, while if you append a @samp{?} after them, it makes them
non-greedy: they will match as little as possible.

@item \@{@var{n},@var{m}\@}
is another postfix operator that specifies an interval of iteration:
the preceding regular expression must match between @var{n} and
@var{m} times.  If @var{m} is omitted, then there is no upper bound
and if @var{,m} is omitted, then the regular expression must match
exactly @var{n} times.				@*
@samp{\@{0,1\@}} is equivalent to @samp{?}.	@*
@samp{\@{0,\@}} is equivalent to @samp{*}.	@*
@samp{\@{1,\@}} is equivalent to @samp{+}.	@*
@samp{\@{@var{n}\@}} is equivalent to @samp{\@{@var{n},@var{n}\@}}.

@item [ @dots{} ]
is a @dfn{character set}, which begins with @samp{[} and is terminated
by @samp{]}.  In the simplest case, the characters between the two
brackets are what this set can match.

@end enumerate

This last application is not a consequence of the idea of a
parenthetical grouping; it is a separate feature that is assigned as a
second meaning to the same @samp{\( @dots{} \)} construct.  In practice
there is almost no conflict between the two meanings.

@item \(?: @dots{} \)
is another grouping construct (often called ``shy'') that serves the same
first two purposes, but not the third:
it cannot be referred to later on by number.  This is only useful
for mechanically constructed regular expressions where grouping
constructs need to be introduced implicitly and hence risk changing the
numbering of subsequent groups.

@item \@var{d}
matches the same text that matched the @var{d}th occurrence of a
@samp{\( @dots{} \)} construct.