Standard C Library Functions                          recomp(3C)



NAME
     recomp, reexec - compile and execute regular expressions

SYNOPSIS
     #include 

     char *recomp(const char *string);


     int reexec(const char *string);


DESCRIPTION
     The recomp() function converts a regular expression  string
     (RE)  into  an  internal form suitable for pattern matching.
     The reexec() function compares the string pointed to by the
     string  argument  with the last regular expression passed to
     recomp().


     If recomp() is called with a  null  pointer  argument,  the
     current regular expression remains unchanged.


     Strings passed to both recomp() and reexec() must be  ter-
     minated by a null byte, and may include NEWLINE characters.


     The recomp() and reexec() functions support simple regular
     expressions, which are defined on the regexp(5) manual page.
     The  regular expressions  of  the  form  \{m\},  \{m,\},  or
     \{m,n\} are not supported.

RETURN VALUES
     The recomp() function  returns  a  null  pointer  when  the
     string  pointed  to  by  the string argument is successfully
     converted.  Otherwise, a pointer to  one  of  the  following
     error message strings is returned:

       No previous regular expression
       Regular expression too long
       unmatched \(
       missing ]
       too many \(\) pairs
       unmatched \)



     Upon successful completion, reexec() returns  1  if  string
     matches  the  last  compiled regular expression.  Otherwise,
     reexec() returns 0 if string fails to match the  last  com-
     piled  regular  expression,  and  -1 if the compiled regular



SunOS 5.11          Last change: 26 Feb 1997                    1






Standard C Library Functions                          recomp(3C)



     expression is invalid (indicating an internal error).

ERORS
     No errors are defined.

USAGE
     For portability  to  implementations  conforming  to  X/Open
     standards prior to SUS, regcomp(3C) and regexec(3C) are pre-
     ferred to these functions.  See standards(5).

SEE ALSO
     grep(1), regcmp(1),  regcmp(3C),  regcomp(3C),  regexec(3C),
     regexpr(3GEN), regexp(5), standards(5)










































SunOS 5.11          Last change: 26 Feb 1997                    2