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<title>pcre2_match specification</title>
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<h1>pcre2_match man page</h1>
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<br><b>
SYNOPSIS
</b><br>
<P>
<b>#include <pcre2.h></b>
</P>
<P>
<b>int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *<i>code</i>, PCRE2_SPTR <i>subject</i>,</b>
<b> PCRE2_SIZE <i>length</i>, PCRE2_SIZE <i>startoffset</i>,</b>
<b> uint32_t <i>options</i>, pcre2_match_data *<i>match_data</i>,</b>
<b> pcre2_match_context *<i>mcontext</i>);</b>
</P>
<br><b>
DESCRIPTION
</b><br>
<P>
This function matches a compiled regular expression against a given subject
string, using a matching algorithm that is similar to Perl's. It returns
offsets to captured substrings. Its arguments are:
<pre>
<i>code</i> Points to the compiled pattern
<i>subject</i> Points to the subject string
<i>length</i> Length of the subject string
<i>startoffset</i> Offset in the subject at which to start matching
<i>options</i> Option bits
<i>match_data</i> Points to a match data block, for results
<i>mcontext</i> Points to a match context, or is NULL
</pre>
A match context is needed only if you want to:
<pre>
Set up a callout function
Change the limit for calling the internal function <i>match()</i>
Change the limit for calling <i>match()</i> recursively
Set custom memory management when the heap is used for recursion
</pre>
The <i>length</i> and <i>startoffset</i> values are code
units, not characters. The options are:
<pre>
PCRE2_ANCHORED Match only at the first position
PCRE2_NOTBOL Subject string is not the beginning of a line
PCRE2_NOTEOL Subject string is not the end of a line
PCRE2_NOTEMPTY An empty string is not a valid match
PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART An empty string at the start of the subject
is not a valid match
PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK Do not check the subject for UTF
validity (only relevant if PCRE2_UTF
was set at compile time)
PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial
match if no full matches are found
PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match
if that is found before a full match
</pre>
For details of partial matching, see the
<a href="pcre2partial.html"><b>pcre2partial</b></a>
page. There is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the
<a href="pcre2api.html"><b>pcre2api</b></a>
page and a description of the POSIX API in the
<a href="pcre2posix.html"><b>pcre2posix</b></a>
page.
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