trunk/doc/pcresample.3

.TH PCRESAMPLE 3
.SH NAME
PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
.SH "PCRE SAMPLE PROGRAM"
.rs
.sp
A simple, complete demonstration program, to get you started with using PCRE,
is supplied in the file \fIpcredemo.c\fP in the PCRE distribution.
.P
The program compiles the regular expression that is its first argument, and
matches it against the subject string in its second argument. No PCRE options
are set, and default character tables are used. If matching succeeds, the
program outputs the portion of the subject that matched, together with the
contents of any captured substrings.
.P
If the -g option is given on the command line, the program then goes on to
check for further matches of the same regular expression in the same subject
string. The logic is a little bit tricky because of the possibility of matching
an empty string. Comments in the code explain what is going on.
.P
If PCRE is installed in the standard include and library directories for your
system, you should be able to compile the demonstration program using this
command:
.sp
  gcc -o pcredemo pcredemo.c -lpcre
.sp
If PCRE is installed elsewhere, you may need to add additional options to the
command line. For example, on a Unix-like system that has PCRE installed in
\fI/usr/local\fP, you can compile the demonstration program using a command
like this:
.sp
.\" JOINSH
  gcc -o pcredemo -I/usr/local/include pcredemo.c \e
      -L/usr/local/lib -lpcre
.sp
Once you have compiled the demonstration program, you can run simple tests like
this:
.sp
  ./pcredemo 'cat|dog' 'the cat sat on the mat'
  ./pcredemo -g 'cat|dog' 'the dog sat on the cat'
.sp
Note that there is a much more comprehensive test program, called
.\" HREF
\fBpcretest\fP,
.\"
which supports many more facilities for testing regular expressions and the
PCRE library. The \fBpcredemo\fP program is provided as a simple coding
example.
.P
On some operating systems (e.g. Solaris), when PCRE is not installed in the
standard library directory, you may get an error like this when you try to run
\fBpcredemo\fP:
.sp
  ld.so.1: a.out: fatal: libpcre.so.0: open failed: No such file or directory
.sp
This is caused by the way shared library support works on those systems. You
need to add
.sp
  -R/usr/local/lib
.sp
(for example) to the compile command to get round this problem.
.
.
.SH AUTHOR
.rs
.sp
.nf
Philip Hazel
University Computing Service
Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
.fi
.
.
.SH REVISION
.rs
.sp
.nf
Last updated: 06 March 2007
Copyright (c) 1997-2007 University of Cambridge.
.fi
1	nigel	79	.TH PCRESAMPLE 3
2	nigel	63	.SH NAME
3			PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
4	nigel	75	.SH "PCRE SAMPLE PROGRAM"
5	nigel	63	.rs
6			.sp
7			A simple, complete demonstration program, to get you started with using PCRE,
8	nigel	75	is supplied in the file \fIpcredemo.c\fP in the PCRE distribution.
9			.P
10	nigel	63	The program compiles the regular expression that is its first argument, and
11			matches it against the subject string in its second argument. No PCRE options
12			are set, and default character tables are used. If matching succeeds, the
13			program outputs the portion of the subject that matched, together with the
14			contents of any captured substrings.
15	nigel	75	.P
16	nigel	63	If the -g option is given on the command line, the program then goes on to
17			check for further matches of the same regular expression in the same subject
18			string. The logic is a little bit tricky because of the possibility of matching
19			an empty string. Comments in the code explain what is going on.
20	nigel	75	.P
21			If PCRE is installed in the standard include and library directories for your
22			system, you should be able to compile the demonstration program using this
23			command:
24			.sp
25			gcc -o pcredemo pcredemo.c -lpcre
26			.sp
27			If PCRE is installed elsewhere, you may need to add additional options to the
28			command line. For example, on a Unix-like system that has PCRE installed in
29			\fI/usr/local\fP, you can compile the demonstration program using a command
30			like this:
31			.sp
32			.\" JOINSH
33			gcc -o pcredemo -I/usr/local/include pcredemo.c \e
34	nigel	63	-L/usr/local/lib -lpcre
35	nigel	75	.sp
36			Once you have compiled the demonstration program, you can run simple tests like
37			this:
38			.sp
39	nigel	63	./pcredemo 'cat\|dog' 'the cat sat on the mat'
40			./pcredemo -g 'cat\|dog' 'the dog sat on the cat'
41	nigel	75	.sp
42	nigel	63	Note that there is a much more comprehensive test program, called
43	nigel	75	.\" HREF
44			\fBpcretest\fP,
45			.\"
46			which supports many more facilities for testing regular expressions and the
47			PCRE library. The \fBpcredemo\fP program is provided as a simple coding
48			example.
49			.P
50			On some operating systems (e.g. Solaris), when PCRE is not installed in the
51			standard library directory, you may get an error like this when you try to run
52			\fBpcredemo\fP:
53			.sp
54	nigel	63	ld.so.1: a.out: fatal: libpcre.so.0: open failed: No such file or directory
55	nigel	75	.sp
56	nigel	63	This is caused by the way shared library support works on those systems. You
57			need to add
58	nigel	75	.sp
59	nigel	63	-R/usr/local/lib
60	nigel	75	.sp
61			(for example) to the compile command to get round this problem.
62	ph10	99	.
63			.
64			.SH AUTHOR
65			.rs
66			.sp
67			.nf
68			Philip Hazel
69			University Computing Service
70			Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
71			.fi
72			.
73			.
74			.SH REVISION
75			.rs
76			.sp
77			.nf
78			Last updated: 06 March 2007
79			Copyright (c) 1997-2007 University of Cambridge.
80			.fi
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