rroonga 6.0.7-x86-mingw32 → 6.0.9-x86-mingw32

data/vendor/local/share/man/man3/pcreapi.3

@@ -0,0 +1,2918 @@
+.TH PCREAPI 3 "18 December 2015" "PCRE 8.39"
+.SH NAME
+PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
+.sp
+.B #include <pcre.h>
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE NATIVE API BASIC FUNCTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B pcre *pcre_compile(const char *\fIpattern\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP, int *\fIerroffset\fP,"
+.B "     const unsigned char *\fItableptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B pcre *pcre_compile2(const char *\fIpattern\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     int *\fIerrorcodeptr\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP, int *\fIerroffset\fP,"
+.B "     const unsigned char *\fItableptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B pcre_extra *pcre_study(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B void pcre_free_study(pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP);
+.sp
+.B int pcre_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_dfa_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP,"
+.B "     int *\fIworkspace\fP, int \fIwscount\fP);"
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE NATIVE API STRING EXTRACTION FUNCTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_copy_named_substring(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, const char *\fIstringname\fP,"
+.B "     char *\fIbuffer\fP, int \fIbuffersize\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_copy_substring(const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, int \fIstringnumber\fP, char *\fIbuffer\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIbuffersize\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_named_substring(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, const char *\fIstringname\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIstringptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_stringnumber(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIname\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_stringtable_entries(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIname\fP, char **\fIfirst\fP, char **\fIlast\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_substring(const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, int \fIstringnumber\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIstringptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_substring_list(const char *\fIsubject\fP,
+.B "     int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIstringcount\fP, const char ***\fIlistptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B void pcre_free_substring(const char *\fIstringptr\fP);
+.sp
+.B void pcre_free_substring_list(const char **\fIstringptr\fP);
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE NATIVE API AUXILIARY FUNCTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_jit_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP,"
+.B "     pcre_jit_stack *\fIjstack\fP);"
+.sp
+.B pcre_jit_stack *pcre_jit_stack_alloc(int \fIstartsize\fP, int \fImaxsize\fP);
+.sp
+.B void pcre_jit_stack_free(pcre_jit_stack *\fIstack\fP);
+.sp
+.B void pcre_assign_jit_stack(pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,
+.B "     pcre_jit_callback \fIcallback\fP, void *\fIdata\fP);"
+.sp
+.B const unsigned char *pcre_maketables(void);
+.sp
+.B int pcre_fullinfo(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIwhat\fP, void *\fIwhere\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_refcount(pcre *\fIcode\fP, int \fIadjust\fP);
+.sp
+.B int pcre_config(int \fIwhat\fP, void *\fIwhere\fP);
+.sp
+.B const char *pcre_version(void);
+.sp
+.B int pcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order(pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP, const unsigned char *\fItables\fP);"
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE NATIVE API INDIRECTED FUNCTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B void *(*pcre_malloc)(size_t);
+.sp
+.B void (*pcre_free)(void *);
+.sp
+.B void *(*pcre_stack_malloc)(size_t);
+.sp
+.B void (*pcre_stack_free)(void *);
+.sp
+.B int (*pcre_callout)(pcre_callout_block *);
+.sp
+.B int (*pcre_stack_guard)(void);
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE 8-BIT, 16-BIT, AND 32-BIT LIBRARIES"
+.rs
+.sp
+As well as support for 8-bit character strings, PCRE also supports 16-bit
+strings (from release 8.30) and 32-bit strings (from release 8.32), by means of
+two additional libraries. They can be built as well as, or instead of, the
+8-bit library. To avoid too much complication, this document describes the
+8-bit versions of the functions, with only occasional references to the 16-bit
+and 32-bit libraries.
+.P
+The 16-bit and 32-bit functions operate in the same way as their 8-bit
+counterparts; they just use different data types for their arguments and
+results, and their names start with \fBpcre16_\fP or \fBpcre32_\fP instead of
+\fBpcre_\fP. For every option that has UTF8 in its name (for example,
+PCRE_UTF8), there are corresponding 16-bit and 32-bit names with UTF8 replaced
+by UTF16 or UTF32, respectively. This facility is in fact just cosmetic; the
+16-bit and 32-bit option names define the same bit values.
+.P
+References to bytes and UTF-8 in this document should be read as references to
+16-bit data units and UTF-16 when using the 16-bit library, or 32-bit data
+units and UTF-32 when using the 32-bit library, unless specified otherwise.
+More details of the specific differences for the 16-bit and 32-bit libraries
+are given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcre16\fP
+.\"
+and
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcre32\fP
+.\"
+pages.
+.
+.
+.SH "PCRE API OVERVIEW"
+.rs
+.sp
+PCRE has its own native API, which is described in this document. There are
+also some wrapper functions (for the 8-bit library only) that correspond to the
+POSIX regular expression API, but they do not give access to all the
+functionality. They are described in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreposix\fP
+.\"
+documentation. Both of these APIs define a set of C function calls. A C++
+wrapper (again for the 8-bit library only) is also distributed with PCRE. It is
+documented in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecpp\fP
+.\"
+page.
+.P
+The native API C function prototypes are defined in the header file
+\fBpcre.h\fP, and on Unix-like systems the (8-bit) library itself is called
+\fBlibpcre\fP. It can normally be accessed by adding \fB-lpcre\fP to the
+command for linking an application that uses PCRE. The header file defines the
+macros PCRE_MAJOR and PCRE_MINOR to contain the major and minor release numbers
+for the library. Applications can use these to include support for different
+releases of PCRE.
+.P
+In a Windows environment, if you want to statically link an application program
+against a non-dll \fBpcre.a\fP file, you must define PCRE_STATIC before
+including \fBpcre.h\fP or \fBpcrecpp.h\fP, because otherwise the
+\fBpcre_malloc()\fP and \fBpcre_free()\fP exported functions will be declared
+\fB__declspec(dllimport)\fP, with unwanted results.
+.P
+The functions \fBpcre_compile()\fP, \fBpcre_compile2()\fP, \fBpcre_study()\fP,
+and \fBpcre_exec()\fP are used for compiling and matching regular expressions
+in a Perl-compatible manner. A sample program that demonstrates the simplest
+way of using them is provided in the file called \fIpcredemo.c\fP in the PCRE
+source distribution. A listing of this program is given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcredemo\fP
+.\"
+documentation, and the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcresample\fP
+.\"
+documentation describes how to compile and run it.
+.P
+Just-in-time compiler support is an optional feature of PCRE that can be built
+in appropriate hardware environments. It greatly speeds up the matching
+performance of many patterns. Simple programs can easily request that it be
+used if available, by setting an option that is ignored when it is not
+relevant. More complicated programs might need to make use of the functions
+\fBpcre_jit_stack_alloc()\fP, \fBpcre_jit_stack_free()\fP, and
+\fBpcre_assign_jit_stack()\fP in order to control the JIT code's memory usage.
+.P
+From release 8.32 there is also a direct interface for JIT execution, which
+gives improved performance. The JIT-specific functions are discussed in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+A second matching function, \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, which is not
+Perl-compatible, is also provided. This uses a different algorithm for the
+matching. The alternative algorithm finds all possible matches (at a given
+point in the subject), and scans the subject just once (unless there are
+lookbehind assertions). However, this algorithm does not return captured
+substrings. A description of the two matching algorithms and their advantages
+and disadvantages is given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrematching\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+In addition to the main compiling and matching functions, there are convenience
+functions for extracting captured substrings from a subject string that is
+matched by \fBpcre_exec()\fP. They are:
+.sp
+  \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP
+  \fBpcre_copy_named_substring()\fP
+  \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP
+  \fBpcre_get_named_substring()\fP
+  \fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP
+  \fBpcre_get_stringnumber()\fP
+  \fBpcre_get_stringtable_entries()\fP
+.sp
+\fBpcre_free_substring()\fP and \fBpcre_free_substring_list()\fP are also
+provided, to free the memory used for extracted strings.
+.P
+The function \fBpcre_maketables()\fP is used to build a set of character tables
+in the current locale for passing to \fBpcre_compile()\fP, \fBpcre_exec()\fP,
+or \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP. This is an optional facility that is provided for
+specialist use. Most commonly, no special tables are passed, in which case
+internal tables that are generated when PCRE is built are used.
+.P
+The function \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP is used to find out information about a
+compiled pattern. The function \fBpcre_version()\fP returns a pointer to a
+string containing the version of PCRE and its date of release.
+.P
+The function \fBpcre_refcount()\fP maintains a reference count in a data block
+containing a compiled pattern. This is provided for the benefit of
+object-oriented applications.
+.P
+The global variables \fBpcre_malloc\fP and \fBpcre_free\fP initially contain
+the entry points of the standard \fBmalloc()\fP and \fBfree()\fP functions,
+respectively. PCRE calls the memory management functions via these variables,
+so a calling program can replace them if it wishes to intercept the calls. This
+should be done before calling any PCRE functions.
+.P
+The global variables \fBpcre_stack_malloc\fP and \fBpcre_stack_free\fP are also
+indirections to memory management functions. These special functions are used
+only when PCRE is compiled to use the heap for remembering data, instead of
+recursive function calls, when running the \fBpcre_exec()\fP function. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrebuild\fP
+.\"
+documentation for details of how to do this. It is a non-standard way of
+building PCRE, for use in environments that have limited stacks. Because of the
+greater use of memory management, it runs more slowly. Separate functions are
+provided so that special-purpose external code can be used for this case. When
+used, these functions always allocate memory blocks of the same size. There is
+a discussion about PCRE's stack usage in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrestack\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The global variable \fBpcre_callout\fP initially contains NULL. It can be set
+by the caller to a "callout" function, which PCRE will then call at specified
+points during a matching operation. Details are given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecallout\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The global variable \fBpcre_stack_guard\fP initially contains NULL. It can be
+set by the caller to a function that is called by PCRE whenever it starts
+to compile a parenthesized part of a pattern. When parentheses are nested, PCRE
+uses recursive function calls, which use up the system stack. This function is
+provided so that applications with restricted stacks can force a compilation
+error if the stack runs out. The function should return zero if all is well, or
+non-zero to force an error.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="newlines"></a>
+.SH NEWLINES
+.rs
+.sp
+PCRE supports five different conventions for indicating line breaks in
+strings: a single CR (carriage return) character, a single LF (linefeed)
+character, the two-character sequence CRLF, any of the three preceding, or any
+Unicode newline sequence. The Unicode newline sequences are the three just
+mentioned, plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form feed,
+U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS
+(paragraph separator, U+2029).
+.P
+Each of the first three conventions is used by at least one operating system as
+its standard newline sequence. When PCRE is built, a default can be specified.
+The default default is LF, which is the Unix standard. When PCRE is run, the
+default can be overridden, either when a pattern is compiled, or when it is
+matched.
+.P
+At compile time, the newline convention can be specified by the \fIoptions\fP
+argument of \fBpcre_compile()\fP, or it can be specified by special text at the
+start of the pattern itself; this overrides any other settings. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+page for details of the special character sequences.
+.P
+In the PCRE documentation the word "newline" is used to mean "the character or
+pair of characters that indicate a line break". The choice of newline
+convention affects the handling of the dot, circumflex, and dollar
+metacharacters, the handling of #-comments in /x mode, and, when CRLF is a
+recognized line ending sequence, the match position advancement for a
+non-anchored pattern. There is more detail about this in the
+.\" HTML <a href="#execoptions">
+.\" </a>
+section on \fBpcre_exec()\fP options
+.\"
+below.
+.P
+The choice of newline convention does not affect the interpretation of
+the \en or \er escape sequences, nor does it affect what \eR matches, which is
+controlled in a similar way, but by separate options.
+.
+.
+.SH MULTITHREADING
+.rs
+.sp
+The PCRE functions can be used in multi-threading applications, with the
+proviso that the memory management functions pointed to by \fBpcre_malloc\fP,
+\fBpcre_free\fP, \fBpcre_stack_malloc\fP, and \fBpcre_stack_free\fP, and the
+callout and stack-checking functions pointed to by \fBpcre_callout\fP and
+\fBpcre_stack_guard\fP, are shared by all threads.
+.P
+The compiled form of a regular expression is not altered during matching, so
+the same compiled pattern can safely be used by several threads at once.
+.P
+If the just-in-time optimization feature is being used, it needs separate
+memory stack areas for each thread. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation for more details.
+.
+.
+.SH "SAVING PRECOMPILED PATTERNS FOR LATER USE"
+.rs
+.sp
+The compiled form of a regular expression can be saved and re-used at a later
+time, possibly by a different program, and even on a host other than the one on
+which it was compiled. Details are given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreprecompile\fP
+.\"
+documentation, which includes a description of the
+\fBpcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order()\fP function. However, compiling a regular
+expression with one version of PCRE for use with a different version is not
+guaranteed to work and may cause crashes.
+.
+.
+.SH "CHECKING BUILD-TIME OPTIONS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.B int pcre_config(int \fIwhat\fP, void *\fIwhere\fP);
+.PP
+The function \fBpcre_config()\fP makes it possible for a PCRE client to
+discover which optional features have been compiled into the PCRE library. The
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrebuild\fP
+.\"
+documentation has more details about these optional features.
+.P
+The first argument for \fBpcre_config()\fP is an integer, specifying which
+information is required; the second argument is a pointer to a variable into
+which the information is placed. The returned value is zero on success, or the
+negative error code PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION if the value in the first argument is
+not recognized. The following information is available:
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_UTF8
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if UTF-8 support is available;
+otherwise it is set to zero. This value should normally be given to the 8-bit
+version of this function, \fBpcre_config()\fP. If it is given to the 16-bit
+or 32-bit version of this function, the result is PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_UTF16
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if UTF-16 support is available;
+otherwise it is set to zero. This value should normally be given to the 16-bit
+version of this function, \fBpcre16_config()\fP. If it is given to the 8-bit
+or 32-bit version of this function, the result is PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_UTF32
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if UTF-32 support is available;
+otherwise it is set to zero. This value should normally be given to the 32-bit
+version of this function, \fBpcre32_config()\fP. If it is given to the 8-bit
+or 16-bit version of this function, the result is PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_UNICODE_PROPERTIES
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if support for Unicode character
+properties is available; otherwise it is set to zero.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_JIT
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if support for just-in-time
+compiling is available; otherwise it is set to zero.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_JITTARGET
+.sp
+The output is a pointer to a zero-terminated "const char *" string. If JIT
+support is available, the string contains the name of the architecture for
+which the JIT compiler is configured, for example "x86 32bit (little endian +
+unaligned)". If JIT support is not available, the result is NULL.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_NEWLINE
+.sp
+The output is an integer whose value specifies the default character sequence
+that is recognized as meaning "newline". The values that are supported in
+ASCII/Unicode environments are: 10 for LF, 13 for CR, 3338 for CRLF, -2 for
+ANYCRLF, and -1 for ANY. In EBCDIC environments, CR, ANYCRLF, and ANY yield the
+same values. However, the value for LF is normally 21, though some EBCDIC
+environments use 37. The corresponding values for CRLF are 3349 and 3365. The
+default should normally correspond to the standard sequence for your operating
+system.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_BSR
+.sp
+The output is an integer whose value indicates what character sequences the \eR
+escape sequence matches by default. A value of 0 means that \eR matches any
+Unicode line ending sequence; a value of 1 means that \eR matches only CR, LF,
+or CRLF. The default can be overridden when a pattern is compiled or matched.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_LINK_SIZE
+.sp
+The output is an integer that contains the number of bytes used for internal
+linkage in compiled regular expressions. For the 8-bit library, the value can
+be 2, 3, or 4. For the 16-bit library, the value is either 2 or 4 and is still
+a number of bytes. For the 32-bit library, the value is either 2 or 4 and is
+still a number of bytes. The default value of 2 is sufficient for all but the
+most massive patterns, since it allows the compiled pattern to be up to 64K in
+size. Larger values allow larger regular expressions to be compiled, at the
+expense of slower matching.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_POSIX_MALLOC_THRESHOLD
+.sp
+The output is an integer that contains the threshold above which the POSIX
+interface uses \fBmalloc()\fP for output vectors. Further details are given in
+the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreposix\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_PARENS_LIMIT
+.sp
+The output is a long integer that gives the maximum depth of nesting of
+parentheses (of any kind) in a pattern. This limit is imposed to cap the amount
+of system stack used when a pattern is compiled. It is specified when PCRE is
+built; the default is 250. This limit does not take into account the stack that
+may already be used by the calling application. For finer control over
+compilation stack usage, you can set a pointer to an external checking function
+in \fBpcre_stack_guard\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_MATCH_LIMIT
+.sp
+The output is a long integer that gives the default limit for the number of
+internal matching function calls in a \fBpcre_exec()\fP execution. Further
+details are given with \fBpcre_exec()\fP below.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION
+.sp
+The output is a long integer that gives the default limit for the depth of
+recursion when calling the internal matching function in a \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+execution. Further details are given with \fBpcre_exec()\fP below.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CONFIG_STACKRECURSE
+.sp
+The output is an integer that is set to one if internal recursion when running
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP is implemented by recursive function calls that use the stack
+to remember their state. This is the usual way that PCRE is compiled. The
+output is zero if PCRE was compiled to use blocks of data on the heap instead
+of recursive function calls. In this case, \fBpcre_stack_malloc\fP and
+\fBpcre_stack_free\fP are called to manage memory blocks on the heap, thus
+avoiding the use of the stack.
+.
+.
+.SH "COMPILING A PATTERN"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B pcre *pcre_compile(const char *\fIpattern\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP, int *\fIerroffset\fP,"
+.B "     const unsigned char *\fItableptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B pcre *pcre_compile2(const char *\fIpattern\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     int *\fIerrorcodeptr\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP, int *\fIerroffset\fP,"
+.B "     const unsigned char *\fItableptr\fP);"
+.fi
+.P
+Either of the functions \fBpcre_compile()\fP or \fBpcre_compile2()\fP can be
+called to compile a pattern into an internal form. The only difference between
+the two interfaces is that \fBpcre_compile2()\fP has an additional argument,
+\fIerrorcodeptr\fP, via which a numerical error code can be returned. To avoid
+too much repetition, we refer just to \fBpcre_compile()\fP below, but the
+information applies equally to \fBpcre_compile2()\fP.
+.P
+The pattern is a C string terminated by a binary zero, and is passed in the
+\fIpattern\fP argument. A pointer to a single block of memory that is obtained
+via \fBpcre_malloc\fP is returned. This contains the compiled code and related
+data. The \fBpcre\fP type is defined for the returned block; this is a typedef
+for a structure whose contents are not externally defined. It is up to the
+caller to free the memory (via \fBpcre_free\fP) when it is no longer required.
+.P
+Although the compiled code of a PCRE regex is relocatable, that is, it does not
+depend on memory location, the complete \fBpcre\fP data block is not
+fully relocatable, because it may contain a copy of the \fItableptr\fP
+argument, which is an address (see below).
+.P
+The \fIoptions\fP argument contains various bit settings that affect the
+compilation. It should be zero if no options are required. The available
+options are described below. Some of them (in particular, those that are
+compatible with Perl, but some others as well) can also be set and unset from
+within the pattern (see the detailed description in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+documentation). For those options that can be different in different parts of
+the pattern, the contents of the \fIoptions\fP argument specifies their
+settings at the start of compilation and execution. The PCRE_ANCHORED,
+PCRE_BSR_\fIxxx\fP, PCRE_NEWLINE_\fIxxx\fP, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, and
+PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE options can be set at the time of matching as well as at
+compile time.
+.P
+If \fIerrptr\fP is NULL, \fBpcre_compile()\fP returns NULL immediately.
+Otherwise, if compilation of a pattern fails, \fBpcre_compile()\fP returns
+NULL, and sets the variable pointed to by \fIerrptr\fP to point to a textual
+error message. This is a static string that is part of the library. You must
+not try to free it. Normally, the offset from the start of the pattern to the
+data unit that was being processed when the error was discovered is placed in
+the variable pointed to by \fIerroffset\fP, which must not be NULL (if it is,
+an immediate error is given). However, for an invalid UTF-8 or UTF-16 string,
+the offset is that of the first data unit of the failing character.
+.P
+Some errors are not detected until the whole pattern has been scanned; in these
+cases, the offset passed back is the length of the pattern. Note that the
+offset is in data units, not characters, even in a UTF mode. It may sometimes
+point into the middle of a UTF-8 or UTF-16 character.
+.P
+If \fBpcre_compile2()\fP is used instead of \fBpcre_compile()\fP, and the
+\fIerrorcodeptr\fP argument is not NULL, a non-zero error code number is
+returned via this argument in the event of an error. This is in addition to the
+textual error message. Error codes and messages are listed below.
+.P
+If the final argument, \fItableptr\fP, is NULL, PCRE uses a default set of
+character tables that are built when PCRE is compiled, using the default C
+locale. Otherwise, \fItableptr\fP must be an address that is the result of a
+call to \fBpcre_maketables()\fP. This value is stored with the compiled
+pattern, and used again by \fBpcre_exec()\fP and \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP when the
+pattern is matched. For more discussion, see the section on locale support
+below.
+.P
+This code fragment shows a typical straightforward call to \fBpcre_compile()\fP:
+.sp
+  pcre *re;
+  const char *error;
+  int erroffset;
+  re = pcre_compile(
+    "^A.*Z",          /* the pattern */
+    0,                /* default options */
+    &error,           /* for error message */
+    &erroffset,       /* for error offset */
+    NULL);            /* use default character tables */
+.sp
+The following names for option bits are defined in the \fBpcre.h\fP header
+file:
+.sp
+  PCRE_ANCHORED
+.sp
+If this bit is set, the pattern is forced to be "anchored", that is, it is
+constrained to match only at the first matching point in the string that is
+being searched (the "subject string"). This effect can also be achieved by
+appropriate constructs in the pattern itself, which is the only way to do it in
+Perl.
+.sp
+  PCRE_AUTO_CALLOUT
+.sp
+If this bit is set, \fBpcre_compile()\fP automatically inserts callout items,
+all with number 255, before each pattern item. For discussion of the callout
+facility, see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecallout\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.sp
+  PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF
+  PCRE_BSR_UNICODE
+.sp
+These options (which are mutually exclusive) control what the \eR escape
+sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, or to
+match any Unicode newline sequence. The default is specified when PCRE is
+built. It can be overridden from within the pattern, or by setting an option
+when a compiled pattern is matched.
+.sp
+  PCRE_CASELESS
+.sp
+If this bit is set, letters in the pattern match both upper and lower case
+letters. It is equivalent to Perl's /i option, and it can be changed within a
+pattern by a (?i) option setting. In UTF-8 mode, PCRE always understands the
+concept of case for characters whose values are less than 128, so caseless
+matching is always possible. For characters with higher values, the concept of
+case is supported if PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support, but not
+otherwise. If you want to use caseless matching for characters 128 and above,
+you must ensure that PCRE is compiled with Unicode property support as well as
+with UTF-8 support.
+.sp
+  PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY
+.sp
+If this bit is set, a dollar metacharacter in the pattern matches only at the
+end of the subject string. Without this option, a dollar also matches
+immediately before a newline at the end of the string (but not before any other
+newlines). The PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY option is ignored if PCRE_MULTILINE is set.
+There is no equivalent to this option in Perl, and no way to set it within a
+pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_DOTALL
+.sp
+If this bit is set, a dot metacharacter in the pattern matches a character of
+any value, including one that indicates a newline. However, it only ever
+matches one character, even if newlines are coded as CRLF. Without this option,
+a dot does not match when the current position is at a newline. This option is
+equivalent to Perl's /s option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
+(?s) option setting. A negative class such as [^a] always matches newline
+characters, independent of the setting of this option.
+.sp
+  PCRE_DUPNAMES
+.sp
+If this bit is set, names used to identify capturing subpatterns need not be
+unique. This can be helpful for certain types of pattern when it is known that
+only one instance of the named subpattern can ever be matched. There are more
+details of named subpatterns below; see also the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.sp
+  PCRE_EXTENDED
+.sp
+If this bit is set, most white space characters in the pattern are totally
+ignored except when escaped or inside a character class. However, white space
+is not allowed within sequences such as (?> that introduce various
+parenthesized subpatterns, nor within a numerical quantifier such as {1,3}.
+However, ignorable white space is permitted between an item and a following
+quantifier and between a quantifier and a following + that indicates
+possessiveness.
+.P
+White space did not used to include the VT character (code 11), because Perl
+did not treat this character as white space. However, Perl changed at release
+5.18, so PCRE followed at release 8.34, and VT is now treated as white space.
+.P
+PCRE_EXTENDED also causes characters between an unescaped # outside a character
+class and the next newline, inclusive, to be ignored. PCRE_EXTENDED is
+equivalent to Perl's /x option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
+(?x) option setting.
+.P
+Which characters are interpreted as newlines is controlled by the options
+passed to \fBpcre_compile()\fP or by a special sequence at the start of the
+pattern, as described in the section entitled
+.\" HTML <a href="pcrepattern.html#newlines">
+.\" </a>
+"Newline conventions"
+.\"
+in the \fBpcrepattern\fP documentation. Note that the end of this type of
+comment is a literal newline sequence in the pattern; escape sequences that
+happen to represent a newline do not count.
+.P
+This option makes it possible to include comments inside complicated patterns.
+Note, however, that this applies only to data characters. White space characters
+may never appear within special character sequences in a pattern, for example
+within the sequence (?( that introduces a conditional subpattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_EXTRA
+.sp
+This option was invented in order to turn on additional functionality of PCRE
+that is incompatible with Perl, but it is currently of very little use. When
+set, any backslash in a pattern that is followed by a letter that has no
+special meaning causes an error, thus reserving these combinations for future
+expansion. By default, as in Perl, a backslash followed by a letter with no
+special meaning is treated as a literal. (Perl can, however, be persuaded to
+give an error for this, by running it with the -w option.) There are at present
+no other features controlled by this option. It can also be set by a (?X)
+option setting within a pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_FIRSTLINE
+.sp
+If this option is set, an unanchored pattern is required to match before or at
+the first newline in the subject string, though the matched text may continue
+over the newline.
+.sp
+  PCRE_JAVASCRIPT_COMPAT
+.sp
+If this option is set, PCRE's behaviour is changed in some ways so that it is
+compatible with JavaScript rather than Perl. The changes are as follows:
+.P
+(1) A lone closing square bracket in a pattern causes a compile-time error,
+because this is illegal in JavaScript (by default it is treated as a data
+character). Thus, the pattern AB]CD becomes illegal when this option is set.
+.P
+(2) At run time, a back reference to an unset subpattern group matches an empty
+string (by default this causes the current matching alternative to fail). A
+pattern such as (\e1)(a) succeeds when this option is set (assuming it can find
+an "a" in the subject), whereas it fails by default, for Perl compatibility.
+.P
+(3) \eU matches an upper case "U" character; by default \eU causes a compile
+time error (Perl uses \eU to upper case subsequent characters).
+.P
+(4) \eu matches a lower case "u" character unless it is followed by four
+hexadecimal digits, in which case the hexadecimal number defines the code point
+to match. By default, \eu causes a compile time error (Perl uses it to upper
+case the following character).
+.P
+(5) \ex matches a lower case "x" character unless it is followed by two
+hexadecimal digits, in which case the hexadecimal number defines the code point
+to match. By default, as in Perl, a hexadecimal number is always expected after
+\ex, but it may have zero, one, or two digits (so, for example, \exz matches a
+binary zero character followed by z).
+.sp
+  PCRE_MULTILINE
+.sp
+By default, for the purposes of matching "start of line" and "end of line",
+PCRE treats the subject string as consisting of a single line of characters,
+even if it actually contains newlines. The "start of line" metacharacter (^)
+matches only at the start of the string, and the "end of line" metacharacter
+($) matches only at the end of the string, or before a terminating newline
+(except when PCRE_DOLLAR_ENDONLY is set). Note, however, that unless
+PCRE_DOTALL is set, the "any character" metacharacter (.) does not match at a
+newline. This behaviour (for ^, $, and dot) is the same as Perl.
+.P
+When PCRE_MULTILINE it is set, the "start of line" and "end of line" constructs
+match immediately following or immediately before internal newlines in the
+subject string, respectively, as well as at the very start and end. This is
+equivalent to Perl's /m option, and it can be changed within a pattern by a
+(?m) option setting. If there are no newlines in a subject string, or no
+occurrences of ^ or $ in a pattern, setting PCRE_MULTILINE has no effect.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NEVER_UTF
+.sp
+This option locks out interpretation of the pattern as UTF-8 (or UTF-16 or
+UTF-32 in the 16-bit and 32-bit libraries). In particular, it prevents the
+creator of the pattern from switching to UTF interpretation by starting the
+pattern with (*UTF). This may be useful in applications that process patterns
+from external sources. The combination of PCRE_UTF8 and PCRE_NEVER_UTF also
+causes an error.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_CR
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_LF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY
+.sp
+These options override the default newline definition that was chosen when PCRE
+was built. Setting the first or the second specifies that a newline is
+indicated by a single character (CR or LF, respectively). Setting
+PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF specifies that a newline is indicated by the two-character
+CRLF sequence. Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF specifies that any of the three
+preceding sequences should be recognized. Setting PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY specifies
+that any Unicode newline sequence should be recognized.
+.P
+In an ASCII/Unicode environment, the Unicode newline sequences are the three
+just mentioned, plus the single characters VT (vertical tab, U+000B), FF (form
+feed, U+000C), NEL (next line, U+0085), LS (line separator, U+2028), and PS
+(paragraph separator, U+2029). For the 8-bit library, the last two are
+recognized only in UTF-8 mode.
+.P
+When PCRE is compiled to run in an EBCDIC (mainframe) environment, the code for
+CR is 0x0d, the same as ASCII. However, the character code for LF is normally
+0x15, though in some EBCDIC environments 0x25 is used. Whichever of these is
+not LF is made to correspond to Unicode's NEL character. EBCDIC codes are all
+less than 256. For more details, see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrebuild\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The newline setting in the options word uses three bits that are treated
+as a number, giving eight possibilities. Currently only six are used (default
+plus the five values above). This means that if you set more than one newline
+option, the combination may or may not be sensible. For example,
+PCRE_NEWLINE_CR with PCRE_NEWLINE_LF is equivalent to PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, but
+other combinations may yield unused numbers and cause an error.
+.P
+The only time that a line break in a pattern is specially recognized when
+compiling is when PCRE_EXTENDED is set. CR and LF are white space characters,
+and so are ignored in this mode. Also, an unescaped # outside a character class
+indicates a comment that lasts until after the next line break sequence. In
+other circumstances, line break sequences in patterns are treated as literal
+data.
+.P
+The newline option that is set at compile time becomes the default that is used
+for \fBpcre_exec()\fP and \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, but it can be overridden.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE
+.sp
+If this option is set, it disables the use of numbered capturing parentheses in
+the pattern. Any opening parenthesis that is not followed by ? behaves as if it
+were followed by ?: but named parentheses can still be used for capturing (and
+they acquire numbers in the usual way). There is no equivalent of this option
+in Perl.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_AUTO_POSSESS
+.sp
+If this option is set, it disables "auto-possessification". This is an
+optimization that, for example, turns a+b into a++b in order to avoid
+backtracks into a+ that can never be successful. However, if callouts are in
+use, auto-possessification means that some of them are never taken. You can set
+this option if you want the matching functions to do a full unoptimized search
+and run all the callouts, but it is mainly provided for testing purposes.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
+.sp
+This is an option that acts at matching time; that is, it is really an option
+for \fBpcre_exec()\fP or \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP. If it is set at compile time,
+it is remembered with the compiled pattern and assumed at matching time. This
+is necessary if you want to use JIT execution, because the JIT compiler needs
+to know whether or not this option is set. For details see the discussion of
+PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
+.\" HTML <a href="#execoptions">
+.\" </a>
+below.
+.\"
+.sp
+  PCRE_UCP
+.sp
+This option changes the way PCRE processes \eB, \eb, \eD, \ed, \eS, \es, \eW,
+\ew, and some of the POSIX character classes. By default, only ASCII characters
+are recognized, but if PCRE_UCP is set, Unicode properties are used instead to
+classify characters. More details are given in the section on
+.\" HTML <a href="pcre.html#genericchartypes">
+.\" </a>
+generic character types
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+page. If you set PCRE_UCP, matching one of the items it affects takes much
+longer. The option is available only if PCRE has been compiled with Unicode
+property support.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UNGREEDY
+.sp
+This option inverts the "greediness" of the quantifiers so that they are not
+greedy by default, but become greedy if followed by "?". It is not compatible
+with Perl. It can also be set by a (?U) option setting within the pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8
+.sp
+This option causes PCRE to regard both the pattern and the subject as strings
+of UTF-8 characters instead of single-byte strings. However, it is available
+only when PCRE is built to include UTF support. If not, the use of this option
+provokes an error. Details of how this option changes the behaviour of PCRE are
+given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreunicode\fP
+.\"
+page.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK
+.sp
+When PCRE_UTF8 is set, the validity of the pattern as a UTF-8 string is
+automatically checked. There is a discussion about the
+.\" HTML <a href="pcreunicode.html#utf8strings">
+.\" </a>
+validity of UTF-8 strings
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreunicode\fP
+.\"
+page. If an invalid UTF-8 sequence is found, \fBpcre_compile()\fP returns an
+error. If you already know that your pattern is valid, and you want to skip
+this check for performance reasons, you can set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option.
+When it is set, the effect of passing an invalid UTF-8 string as a pattern is
+undefined. It may cause your program to crash or loop. Note that this option
+can also be passed to \fBpcre_exec()\fP and \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, to suppress
+the validity checking of subject strings only. If the same string is being
+matched many times, the option can be safely set for the second and subsequent
+matchings to improve performance.
+.
+.
+.SH "COMPILATION ERROR CODES"
+.rs
+.sp
+The following table lists the error codes than may be returned by
+\fBpcre_compile2()\fP, along with the error messages that may be returned by
+both compiling functions. Note that error messages are always 8-bit ASCII
+strings, even in 16-bit or 32-bit mode. As PCRE has developed, some error codes
+have fallen out of use. To avoid confusion, they have not been re-used.
+.sp
+   0  no error
+   1  \e at end of pattern
+   2  \ec at end of pattern
+   3  unrecognized character follows \e
+   4  numbers out of order in {} quantifier
+   5  number too big in {} quantifier
+   6  missing terminating ] for character class
+   7  invalid escape sequence in character class
+   8  range out of order in character class
+   9  nothing to repeat
+  10  [this code is not in use]
+  11  internal error: unexpected repeat
+  12  unrecognized character after (? or (?-
+  13  POSIX named classes are supported only within a class
+  14  missing )
+  15  reference to non-existent subpattern
+  16  erroffset passed as NULL
+  17  unknown option bit(s) set
+  18  missing ) after comment
+  19  [this code is not in use]
+  20  regular expression is too large
+  21  failed to get memory
+  22  unmatched parentheses
+  23  internal error: code overflow
+  24  unrecognized character after (?<
+  25  lookbehind assertion is not fixed length
+  26  malformed number or name after (?(
+  27  conditional group contains more than two branches
+  28  assertion expected after (?(
+  29  (?R or (?[+-]digits must be followed by )
+  30  unknown POSIX class name
+  31  POSIX collating elements are not supported
+  32  this version of PCRE is compiled without UTF support
+  33  [this code is not in use]
+  34  character value in \ex{} or \eo{} is too large
+  35  invalid condition (?(0)
+  36  \eC not allowed in lookbehind assertion
+  37  PCRE does not support \eL, \el, \eN{name}, \eU, or \eu
+  38  number after (?C is > 255
+  39  closing ) for (?C expected
+  40  recursive call could loop indefinitely
+  41  unrecognized character after (?P
+  42  syntax error in subpattern name (missing terminator)
+  43  two named subpatterns have the same name
+  44  invalid UTF-8 string (specifically UTF-8)
+  45  support for \eP, \ep, and \eX has not been compiled
+  46  malformed \eP or \ep sequence
+  47  unknown property name after \eP or \ep
+  48  subpattern name is too long (maximum 32 characters)
+  49  too many named subpatterns (maximum 10000)
+  50  [this code is not in use]
+  51  octal value is greater than \e377 in 8-bit non-UTF-8 mode
+  52  internal error: overran compiling workspace
+  53  internal error: previously-checked referenced subpattern
+        not found
+  54  DEFINE group contains more than one branch
+  55  repeating a DEFINE group is not allowed
+  56  inconsistent NEWLINE options
+  57  \eg is not followed by a braced, angle-bracketed, or quoted
+        name/number or by a plain number
+  58  a numbered reference must not be zero
+  59  an argument is not allowed for (*ACCEPT), (*FAIL), or (*COMMIT)
+  60  (*VERB) not recognized or malformed
+  61  number is too big
+  62  subpattern name expected
+  63  digit expected after (?+
+  64  ] is an invalid data character in JavaScript compatibility mode
+  65  different names for subpatterns of the same number are
+        not allowed
+  66  (*MARK) must have an argument
+  67  this version of PCRE is not compiled with Unicode property
+        support
+  68  \ec must be followed by an ASCII character
+  69  \ek is not followed by a braced, angle-bracketed, or quoted name
+  70  internal error: unknown opcode in find_fixedlength()
+  71  \eN is not supported in a class
+  72  too many forward references
+  73  disallowed Unicode code point (>= 0xd800 && <= 0xdfff)
+  74  invalid UTF-16 string (specifically UTF-16)
+  75  name is too long in (*MARK), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), or (*THEN)
+  76  character value in \eu.... sequence is too large
+  77  invalid UTF-32 string (specifically UTF-32)
+  78  setting UTF is disabled by the application
+  79  non-hex character in \ex{} (closing brace missing?)
+  80  non-octal character in \eo{} (closing brace missing?)
+  81  missing opening brace after \eo
+  82  parentheses are too deeply nested
+  83  invalid range in character class
+  84  group name must start with a non-digit
+  85  parentheses are too deeply nested (stack check)
+.sp
+The numbers 32 and 10000 in errors 48 and 49 are defaults; different values may
+be used if the limits were changed when PCRE was built.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="studyingapattern"></a>
+.SH "STUDYING A PATTERN"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B pcre_extra *pcre_study(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, int \fIoptions\fP,
+.B "     const char **\fIerrptr\fP);"
+.fi
+.PP
+If a compiled pattern is going to be used several times, it is worth spending
+more time analyzing it in order to speed up the time taken for matching. The
+function \fBpcre_study()\fP takes a pointer to a compiled pattern as its first
+argument. If studying the pattern produces additional information that will
+help speed up matching, \fBpcre_study()\fP returns a pointer to a
+\fBpcre_extra\fP block, in which the \fIstudy_data\fP field points to the
+results of the study.
+.P
+The returned value from \fBpcre_study()\fP can be passed directly to
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP or \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP. However, a \fBpcre_extra\fP block
+also contains other fields that can be set by the caller before the block is
+passed; these are described
+.\" HTML <a href="#extradata">
+.\" </a>
+below
+.\"
+in the section on matching a pattern.
+.P
+If studying the pattern does not produce any useful information,
+\fBpcre_study()\fP returns NULL by default. In that circumstance, if the
+calling program wants to pass any of the other fields to \fBpcre_exec()\fP or
+\fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, it must set up its own \fBpcre_extra\fP block. However,
+if \fBpcre_study()\fP is called with the PCRE_STUDY_EXTRA_NEEDED option, it
+returns a \fBpcre_extra\fP block even if studying did not find any additional
+information. It may still return NULL, however, if an error occurs in
+\fBpcre_study()\fP.
+.P
+The second argument of \fBpcre_study()\fP contains option bits. There are three
+further options in addition to PCRE_STUDY_EXTRA_NEEDED:
+.sp
+  PCRE_STUDY_JIT_COMPILE
+  PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_HARD_COMPILE
+  PCRE_STUDY_JIT_PARTIAL_SOFT_COMPILE
+.sp
+If any of these are set, and the just-in-time compiler is available, the
+pattern is further compiled into machine code that executes much faster than
+the \fBpcre_exec()\fP interpretive matching function. If the just-in-time
+compiler is not available, these options are ignored. All undefined bits in the
+\fIoptions\fP argument must be zero.
+.P
+JIT compilation is a heavyweight optimization. It can take some time for
+patterns to be analyzed, and for one-off matches and simple patterns the
+benefit of faster execution might be offset by a much slower study time.
+Not all patterns can be optimized by the JIT compiler. For those that cannot be
+handled, matching automatically falls back to the \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+interpreter. For more details, see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The third argument for \fBpcre_study()\fP is a pointer for an error message. If
+studying succeeds (even if no data is returned), the variable it points to is
+set to NULL. Otherwise it is set to point to a textual error message. This is a
+static string that is part of the library. You must not try to free it. You
+should test the error pointer for NULL after calling \fBpcre_study()\fP, to be
+sure that it has run successfully.
+.P
+When you are finished with a pattern, you can free the memory used for the
+study data by calling \fBpcre_free_study()\fP. This function was added to the
+API for release 8.20. For earlier versions, the memory could be freed with
+\fBpcre_free()\fP, just like the pattern itself. This will still work in cases
+where JIT optimization is not used, but it is advisable to change to the new
+function when convenient.
+.P
+This is a typical way in which \fBpcre_study\fP() is used (except that in a
+real application there should be tests for errors):
+.sp
+  int rc;
+  pcre *re;
+  pcre_extra *sd;
+  re = pcre_compile("pattern", 0, &error, &erroroffset, NULL);
+  sd = pcre_study(
+    re,             /* result of pcre_compile() */
+    0,              /* no options */
+    &error);        /* set to NULL or points to a message */
+  rc = pcre_exec(   /* see below for details of pcre_exec() options */
+    re, sd, "subject", 7, 0, 0, ovector, 30);
+  ...
+  pcre_free_study(sd);
+  pcre_free(re);
+.sp
+Studying a pattern does two things: first, a lower bound for the length of
+subject string that is needed to match the pattern is computed. This does not
+mean that there are any strings of that length that match, but it does
+guarantee that no shorter strings match. The value is used to avoid wasting
+time by trying to match strings that are shorter than the lower bound. You can
+find out the value in a calling program via the \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP function.
+.P
+Studying a pattern is also useful for non-anchored patterns that do not have a
+single fixed starting character. A bitmap of possible starting bytes is
+created. This speeds up finding a position in the subject at which to start
+matching. (In 16-bit mode, the bitmap is used for 16-bit values less than 256.
+In 32-bit mode, the bitmap is used for 32-bit values less than 256.)
+.P
+These two optimizations apply to both \fBpcre_exec()\fP and
+\fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, and the information is also used by the JIT compiler.
+The optimizations can be disabled by setting the PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option.
+You might want to do this if your pattern contains callouts or (*MARK) and you
+want to make use of these facilities in cases where matching fails.
+.P
+PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE can be specified at either compile time or execution
+time. However, if PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is passed to \fBpcre_exec()\fP, (that
+is, after any JIT compilation has happened) JIT execution is disabled. For JIT
+execution to work with PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, the option must be set at
+compile time.
+.P
+There is a longer discussion of PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
+.\" HTML <a href="#execoptions">
+.\" </a>
+below.
+.\"
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="localesupport"></a>
+.SH "LOCALE SUPPORT"
+.rs
+.sp
+PCRE handles caseless matching, and determines whether characters are letters,
+digits, or whatever, by reference to a set of tables, indexed by character
+code point. When running in UTF-8 mode, or in the 16- or 32-bit libraries, this
+applies only to characters with code points less than 256. By default,
+higher-valued code points never match escapes such as \ew or \ed. However, if
+PCRE is built with Unicode property support, all characters can be tested with
+\ep and \eP, or, alternatively, the PCRE_UCP option can be set when a pattern
+is compiled; this causes \ew and friends to use Unicode property support
+instead of the built-in tables.
+.P
+The use of locales with Unicode is discouraged. If you are handling characters
+with code points greater than 128, you should either use Unicode support, or
+use locales, but not try to mix the two.
+.P
+PCRE contains an internal set of tables that are used when the final argument
+of \fBpcre_compile()\fP is NULL. These are sufficient for many applications.
+Normally, the internal tables recognize only ASCII characters. However, when
+PCRE is built, it is possible to cause the internal tables to be rebuilt in the
+default "C" locale of the local system, which may cause them to be different.
+.P
+The internal tables can always be overridden by tables supplied by the
+application that calls PCRE. These may be created in a different locale from
+the default. As more and more applications change to using Unicode, the need
+for this locale support is expected to die away.
+.P
+External tables are built by calling the \fBpcre_maketables()\fP function,
+which has no arguments, in the relevant locale. The result can then be passed
+to \fBpcre_compile()\fP as often as necessary. For example, to build and use
+tables that are appropriate for the French locale (where accented characters
+with values greater than 128 are treated as letters), the following code could
+be used:
+.sp
+  setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "fr_FR");
+  tables = pcre_maketables();
+  re = pcre_compile(..., tables);
+.sp
+The locale name "fr_FR" is used on Linux and other Unix-like systems; if you
+are using Windows, the name for the French locale is "french".
+.P
+When \fBpcre_maketables()\fP runs, the tables are built in memory that is
+obtained via \fBpcre_malloc\fP. It is the caller's responsibility to ensure
+that the memory containing the tables remains available for as long as it is
+needed.
+.P
+The pointer that is passed to \fBpcre_compile()\fP is saved with the compiled
+pattern, and the same tables are used via this pointer by \fBpcre_study()\fP
+and also by \fBpcre_exec()\fP and \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP. Thus, for any single
+pattern, compilation, studying and matching all happen in the same locale, but
+different patterns can be processed in different locales.
+.P
+It is possible to pass a table pointer or NULL (indicating the use of the
+internal tables) to \fBpcre_exec()\fP or \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP (see the
+discussion below in the section on matching a pattern). This facility is
+provided for use with pre-compiled patterns that have been saved and reloaded.
+Character tables are not saved with patterns, so if a non-standard table was
+used at compile time, it must be provided again when the reloaded pattern is
+matched. Attempting to use this facility to match a pattern in a different
+locale from the one in which it was compiled is likely to lead to anomalous
+(usually incorrect) results.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="infoaboutpattern"></a>
+.SH "INFORMATION ABOUT A PATTERN"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_fullinfo(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIwhat\fP, void *\fIwhere\fP);"
+.fi
+.PP
+The \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP function returns information about a compiled
+pattern. It replaces the \fBpcre_info()\fP function, which was removed from the
+library at version 8.30, after more than 10 years of obsolescence.
+.P
+The first argument for \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP is a pointer to the compiled
+pattern. The second argument is the result of \fBpcre_study()\fP, or NULL if
+the pattern was not studied. The third argument specifies which piece of
+information is required, and the fourth argument is a pointer to a variable
+to receive the data. The yield of the function is zero for success, or one of
+the following negative numbers:
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NULL           the argument \fIcode\fP was NULL
+                            the argument \fIwhere\fP was NULL
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADMAGIC       the "magic number" was not found
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADENDIANNESS  the pattern was compiled with different
+                            endianness
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION      the value of \fIwhat\fP was invalid
+  PCRE_ERROR_UNSET          the requested field is not set
+.sp
+The "magic number" is placed at the start of each compiled pattern as an simple
+check against passing an arbitrary memory pointer. The endianness error can
+occur if a compiled pattern is saved and reloaded on a different host. Here is
+a typical call of \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP, to obtain the length of the compiled
+pattern:
+.sp
+  int rc;
+  size_t length;
+  rc = pcre_fullinfo(
+    re,               /* result of pcre_compile() */
+    sd,               /* result of pcre_study(), or NULL */
+    PCRE_INFO_SIZE,   /* what is required */
+    &length);         /* where to put the data */
+.sp
+The possible values for the third argument are defined in \fBpcre.h\fP, and are
+as follows:
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_BACKREFMAX
+.sp
+Return the number of the highest back reference in the pattern. The fourth
+argument should point to an \fBint\fP variable. Zero is returned if there are
+no back references.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_CAPTURECOUNT
+.sp
+Return the number of capturing subpatterns in the pattern. The fourth argument
+should point to an \fBint\fP variable.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_DEFAULT_TABLES
+.sp
+Return a pointer to the internal default character tables within PCRE. The
+fourth argument should point to an \fBunsigned char *\fP variable. This
+information call is provided for internal use by the \fBpcre_study()\fP
+function. External callers can cause PCRE to use its internal tables by passing
+a NULL table pointer.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_FIRSTBYTE (deprecated)
+.sp
+Return information about the first data unit of any matched string, for a
+non-anchored pattern. The name of this option refers to the 8-bit library,
+where data units are bytes. The fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP
+variable. Negative values are used for special cases. However, this means that
+when the 32-bit library is in non-UTF-32 mode, the full 32-bit range of
+characters cannot be returned. For this reason, this value is deprecated; use
+PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTERFLAGS and PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTER instead.
+.P
+If there is a fixed first value, for example, the letter "c" from a pattern
+such as (cat|cow|coyote), its value is returned. In the 8-bit library, the
+value is always less than 256. In the 16-bit library the value can be up to
+0xffff. In the 32-bit library the value can be up to 0x10ffff.
+.P
+If there is no fixed first value, and if either
+.sp
+(a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every branch
+starts with "^", or
+.sp
+(b) every branch of the pattern starts with ".*" and PCRE_DOTALL is not set
+(if it were set, the pattern would be anchored),
+.sp
+-1 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start of a
+subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise -2 is
+returned. For anchored patterns, -2 is returned.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTER
+.sp
+Return the value of the first data unit (non-UTF character) of any matched
+string in the situation where PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTERFLAGS returns 1;
+otherwise return 0. The fourth argument should point to an \fBuint_t\fP
+variable.
+.P
+In the 8-bit library, the value is always less than 256. In the 16-bit library
+the value can be up to 0xffff. In the 32-bit library in UTF-32 mode the value
+can be up to 0x10ffff, and up to 0xffffffff when not using UTF-32 mode.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTERFLAGS
+.sp
+Return information about the first data unit of any matched string, for a
+non-anchored pattern. The fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP
+variable.
+.P
+If there is a fixed first value, for example, the letter "c" from a pattern
+such as (cat|cow|coyote), 1 is returned, and the character value can be
+retrieved using PCRE_INFO_FIRSTCHARACTER. If there is no fixed first value, and
+if either
+.sp
+(a) the pattern was compiled with the PCRE_MULTILINE option, and every branch
+starts with "^", or
+.sp
+(b) every branch of the pattern starts with ".*" and PCRE_DOTALL is not set
+(if it were set, the pattern would be anchored),
+.sp
+2 is returned, indicating that the pattern matches only at the start of a
+subject string or after any newline within the string. Otherwise 0 is
+returned. For anchored patterns, 0 is returned.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_FIRSTTABLE
+.sp
+If the pattern was studied, and this resulted in the construction of a 256-bit
+table indicating a fixed set of values for the first data unit in any matching
+string, a pointer to the table is returned. Otherwise NULL is returned. The
+fourth argument should point to an \fBunsigned char *\fP variable.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_HASCRORLF
+.sp
+Return 1 if the pattern contains any explicit matches for CR or LF characters,
+otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP variable. An
+explicit match is either a literal CR or LF character, or \er or \en.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_JCHANGED
+.sp
+Return 1 if the (?J) or (?-J) option setting is used in the pattern, otherwise
+0. The fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP variable. (?J) and
+(?-J) set and unset the local PCRE_DUPNAMES option, respectively.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_JIT
+.sp
+Return 1 if the pattern was studied with one of the JIT options, and
+just-in-time compiling was successful. The fourth argument should point to an
+\fBint\fP variable. A return value of 0 means that JIT support is not available
+in this version of PCRE, or that the pattern was not studied with a JIT option,
+or that the JIT compiler could not handle this particular pattern. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation for details of what can and cannot be handled.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_JITSIZE
+.sp
+If the pattern was successfully studied with a JIT option, return the size of
+the JIT compiled code, otherwise return zero. The fourth argument should point
+to a \fBsize_t\fP variable.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_LASTLITERAL
+.sp
+Return the value of the rightmost literal data unit that must exist in any
+matched string, other than at its start, if such a value has been recorded. The
+fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP variable. If there is no such
+value, -1 is returned. For anchored patterns, a last literal value is recorded
+only if it follows something of variable length. For example, for the pattern
+/^a\ed+z\ed+/ the returned value is "z", but for /^a\edz\ed/ the returned value
+is -1.
+.P
+Since for the 32-bit library using the non-UTF-32 mode, this function is unable
+to return the full 32-bit range of characters, this value is deprecated;
+instead the PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHARFLAGS and PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHAR values should
+be used.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_MATCH_EMPTY
+.sp
+Return 1 if the pattern can match an empty string, otherwise 0. The fourth
+argument should point to an \fBint\fP variable.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_MATCHLIMIT
+.sp
+If the pattern set a match limit by including an item of the form
+(*LIMIT_MATCH=nnnn) at the start, the value is returned. The fourth argument
+should point to an unsigned 32-bit integer. If no such value has been set, the
+call to \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP returns the error PCRE_ERROR_UNSET.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_MAXLOOKBEHIND
+.sp
+Return the number of characters (NB not data units) in the longest lookbehind
+assertion in the pattern. This information is useful when doing multi-segment
+matching using the partial matching facilities. Note that the simple assertions
+\eb and \eB require a one-character lookbehind. \eA also registers a
+one-character lookbehind, though it does not actually inspect the previous
+character. This is to ensure that at least one character from the old segment
+is retained when a new segment is processed. Otherwise, if there are no
+lookbehinds in the pattern, \eA might match incorrectly at the start of a new
+segment.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_MINLENGTH
+.sp
+If the pattern was studied and a minimum length for matching subject strings
+was computed, its value is returned. Otherwise the returned value is -1. The
+value is a number of characters, which in UTF mode may be different from the
+number of data units. The fourth argument should point to an \fBint\fP
+variable. A non-negative value is a lower bound to the length of any matching
+string. There may not be any strings of that length that do actually match, but
+every string that does match is at least that long.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_NAMECOUNT
+  PCRE_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE
+  PCRE_INFO_NAMETABLE
+.sp
+PCRE supports the use of named as well as numbered capturing parentheses. The
+names are just an additional way of identifying the parentheses, which still
+acquire numbers. Several convenience functions such as
+\fBpcre_get_named_substring()\fP are provided for extracting captured
+substrings by name. It is also possible to extract the data directly, by first
+converting the name to a number in order to access the correct pointers in the
+output vector (described with \fBpcre_exec()\fP below). To do the conversion,
+you need to use the name-to-number map, which is described by these three
+values.
+.P
+The map consists of a number of fixed-size entries. PCRE_INFO_NAMECOUNT gives
+the number of entries, and PCRE_INFO_NAMEENTRYSIZE gives the size of each
+entry; both of these return an \fBint\fP value. The entry size depends on the
+length of the longest name. PCRE_INFO_NAMETABLE returns a pointer to the first
+entry of the table. This is a pointer to \fBchar\fP in the 8-bit library, where
+the first two bytes of each entry are the number of the capturing parenthesis,
+most significant byte first. In the 16-bit library, the pointer points to
+16-bit data units, the first of which contains the parenthesis number. In the
+32-bit library, the pointer points to 32-bit data units, the first of which
+contains the parenthesis number. The rest of the entry is the corresponding
+name, zero terminated.
+.P
+The names are in alphabetical order. If (?| is used to create multiple groups
+with the same number, as described in the
+.\" HTML <a href="pcrepattern.html#dupsubpatternnumber">
+.\" </a>
+section on duplicate subpattern numbers
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+page, the groups may be given the same name, but there is only one entry in the
+table. Different names for groups of the same number are not permitted.
+Duplicate names for subpatterns with different numbers are permitted,
+but only if PCRE_DUPNAMES is set. They appear in the table in the order in
+which they were found in the pattern. In the absence of (?| this is the order
+of increasing number; when (?| is used this is not necessarily the case because
+later subpatterns may have lower numbers.
+.P
+As a simple example of the name/number table, consider the following pattern
+after compilation by the 8-bit library (assume PCRE_EXTENDED is set, so white
+space - including newlines - is ignored):
+.sp
+.\" JOIN
+  (?<date> (?<year>(\ed\ed)?\ed\ed) -
+  (?<month>\ed\ed) - (?<day>\ed\ed) )
+.sp
+There are four named subpatterns, so the table has four entries, and each entry
+in the table is eight bytes long. The table is as follows, with non-printing
+bytes shows in hexadecimal, and undefined bytes shown as ??:
+.sp
+  00 01 d  a  t  e  00 ??
+  00 05 d  a  y  00 ?? ??
+  00 04 m  o  n  t  h  00
+  00 02 y  e  a  r  00 ??
+.sp
+When writing code to extract data from named subpatterns using the
+name-to-number map, remember that the length of the entries is likely to be
+different for each compiled pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_OKPARTIAL
+.sp
+Return 1 if the pattern can be used for partial matching with
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP, otherwise 0. The fourth argument should point to an
+\fBint\fP variable. From release 8.00, this always returns 1, because the
+restrictions that previously applied to partial matching have been lifted. The
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepartial\fP
+.\"
+documentation gives details of partial matching.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_OPTIONS
+.sp
+Return a copy of the options with which the pattern was compiled. The fourth
+argument should point to an \fBunsigned long int\fP variable. These option bits
+are those specified in the call to \fBpcre_compile()\fP, modified by any
+top-level option settings at the start of the pattern itself. In other words,
+they are the options that will be in force when matching starts. For example,
+if the pattern /(?im)abc(?-i)d/ is compiled with the PCRE_EXTENDED option, the
+result is PCRE_CASELESS, PCRE_MULTILINE, and PCRE_EXTENDED.
+.P
+A pattern is automatically anchored by PCRE if all of its top-level
+alternatives begin with one of the following:
+.sp
+  ^     unless PCRE_MULTILINE is set
+  \eA    always
+  \eG    always
+.\" JOIN
+  .*    if PCRE_DOTALL is set and there are no back
+          references to the subpattern in which .* appears
+.sp
+For such patterns, the PCRE_ANCHORED bit is set in the options returned by
+\fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_RECURSIONLIMIT
+.sp
+If the pattern set a recursion limit by including an item of the form
+(*LIMIT_RECURSION=nnnn) at the start, the value is returned. The fourth
+argument should point to an unsigned 32-bit integer. If no such value has been
+set, the call to \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP returns the error PCRE_ERROR_UNSET.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_SIZE
+.sp
+Return the size of the compiled pattern in bytes (for all three libraries). The
+fourth argument should point to a \fBsize_t\fP variable. This value does not
+include the size of the \fBpcre\fP structure that is returned by
+\fBpcre_compile()\fP. The value that is passed as the argument to
+\fBpcre_malloc()\fP when \fBpcre_compile()\fP is getting memory in which to
+place the compiled data is the value returned by this option plus the size of
+the \fBpcre\fP structure. Studying a compiled pattern, with or without JIT,
+does not alter the value returned by this option.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_STUDYSIZE
+.sp
+Return the size in bytes (for all three libraries) of the data block pointed to
+by the \fIstudy_data\fP field in a \fBpcre_extra\fP block. If \fBpcre_extra\fP
+is NULL, or there is no study data, zero is returned. The fourth argument
+should point to a \fBsize_t\fP variable. The \fIstudy_data\fP field is set by
+\fBpcre_study()\fP to record information that will speed up matching (see the
+section entitled
+.\" HTML <a href="#studyingapattern">
+.\" </a>
+"Studying a pattern"
+.\"
+above). The format of the \fIstudy_data\fP block is private, but its length
+is made available via this option so that it can be saved and restored (see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreprecompile\fP
+.\"
+documentation for details).
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHARFLAGS
+.sp
+Returns 1 if there is a rightmost literal data unit that must exist in any
+matched string, other than at its start. The fourth argument should  point to
+an \fBint\fP variable. If there is no such value, 0 is returned. If returning
+1, the character value itself can be retrieved using PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHAR.
+.P
+For anchored patterns, a last literal value is recorded only if it follows
+something of variable length. For example, for the pattern /^a\ed+z\ed+/ the
+returned value 1 (with "z" returned from PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHAR), but for
+/^a\edz\ed/ the returned value is 0.
+.sp
+  PCRE_INFO_REQUIREDCHAR
+.sp
+Return the value of the rightmost literal data unit that must exist in any
+matched string, other than at its start, if such a value has been recorded. The
+fourth argument should point to an \fBuint32_t\fP variable. If there is no such
+value, 0 is returned.
+.
+.
+.SH "REFERENCE COUNTS"
+.rs
+.sp
+.B int pcre_refcount(pcre *\fIcode\fP, int \fIadjust\fP);
+.PP
+The \fBpcre_refcount()\fP function is used to maintain a reference count in the
+data block that contains a compiled pattern. It is provided for the benefit of
+applications that operate in an object-oriented manner, where different parts
+of the application may be using the same compiled pattern, but you want to free
+the block when they are all done.
+.P
+When a pattern is compiled, the reference count field is initialized to zero.
+It is changed only by calling this function, whose action is to add the
+\fIadjust\fP value (which may be positive or negative) to it. The yield of the
+function is the new value. However, the value of the count is constrained to
+lie between 0 and 65535, inclusive. If the new value is outside these limits,
+it is forced to the appropriate limit value.
+.P
+Except when it is zero, the reference count is not correctly preserved if a
+pattern is compiled on one host and then transferred to a host whose byte-order
+is different. (This seems a highly unlikely scenario.)
+.
+.
+.SH "MATCHING A PATTERN: THE TRADITIONAL FUNCTION"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP," int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,
+.B "     int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP);"
+.fi
+.P
+The function \fBpcre_exec()\fP is called to match a subject string against a
+compiled pattern, which is passed in the \fIcode\fP argument. If the
+pattern was studied, the result of the study should be passed in the
+\fIextra\fP argument. You can call \fBpcre_exec()\fP with the same \fIcode\fP
+and \fIextra\fP arguments as many times as you like, in order to match
+different subject strings with the same pattern.
+.P
+This function is the main matching facility of the library, and it operates in
+a Perl-like manner. For specialist use there is also an alternative matching
+function, which is described
+.\" HTML <a href="#dfamatch">
+.\" </a>
+below
+.\"
+in the section about the \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP function.
+.P
+In most applications, the pattern will have been compiled (and optionally
+studied) in the same process that calls \fBpcre_exec()\fP. However, it is
+possible to save compiled patterns and study data, and then use them later
+in different processes, possibly even on different hosts. For a discussion
+about this, see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreprecompile\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+Here is an example of a simple call to \fBpcre_exec()\fP:
+.sp
+  int rc;
+  int ovector[30];
+  rc = pcre_exec(
+    re,             /* result of pcre_compile() */
+    NULL,           /* we didn't study the pattern */
+    "some string",  /* the subject string */
+    11,             /* the length of the subject string */
+    0,              /* start at offset 0 in the subject */
+    0,              /* default options */
+    ovector,        /* vector of integers for substring information */
+    30);            /* number of elements (NOT size in bytes) */
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="extradata"></a>
+.SS "Extra data for \fBpcre_exec()\fR"
+.rs
+.sp
+If the \fIextra\fP argument is not NULL, it must point to a \fBpcre_extra\fP
+data block. The \fBpcre_study()\fP function returns such a block (when it
+doesn't return NULL), but you can also create one for yourself, and pass
+additional information in it. The \fBpcre_extra\fP block contains the following
+fields (not necessarily in this order):
+.sp
+  unsigned long int \fIflags\fP;
+  void *\fIstudy_data\fP;
+  void *\fIexecutable_jit\fP;
+  unsigned long int \fImatch_limit\fP;
+  unsigned long int \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP;
+  void *\fIcallout_data\fP;
+  const unsigned char *\fItables\fP;
+  unsigned char **\fImark\fP;
+.sp
+In the 16-bit version of this structure, the \fImark\fP field has type
+"PCRE_UCHAR16 **".
+.sp
+In the 32-bit version of this structure, the \fImark\fP field has type
+"PCRE_UCHAR32 **".
+.P
+The \fIflags\fP field is used to specify which of the other fields are set. The
+flag bits are:
+.sp
+  PCRE_EXTRA_CALLOUT_DATA
+  PCRE_EXTRA_EXECUTABLE_JIT
+  PCRE_EXTRA_MARK
+  PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT
+  PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION
+  PCRE_EXTRA_STUDY_DATA
+  PCRE_EXTRA_TABLES
+.sp
+Other flag bits should be set to zero. The \fIstudy_data\fP field and sometimes
+the \fIexecutable_jit\fP field are set in the \fBpcre_extra\fP block that is
+returned by \fBpcre_study()\fP, together with the appropriate flag bits. You
+should not set these yourself, but you may add to the block by setting other
+fields and their corresponding flag bits.
+.P
+The \fImatch_limit\fP field provides a means of preventing PCRE from using up a
+vast amount of resources when running patterns that are not going to match,
+but which have a very large number of possibilities in their search trees. The
+classic example is a pattern that uses nested unlimited repeats.
+.P
+Internally, \fBpcre_exec()\fP uses a function called \fBmatch()\fP, which it
+calls repeatedly (sometimes recursively). The limit set by \fImatch_limit\fP is
+imposed on the number of times this function is called during a match, which
+has the effect of limiting the amount of backtracking that can take place. For
+patterns that are not anchored, the count restarts from zero for each position
+in the subject string.
+.P
+When \fBpcre_exec()\fP is called with a pattern that was successfully studied
+with a JIT option, the way that the matching is executed is entirely different.
+However, there is still the possibility of runaway matching that goes on for a
+very long time, and so the \fImatch_limit\fP value is also used in this case
+(but in a different way) to limit how long the matching can continue.
+.P
+The default value for the limit can be set when PCRE is built; the default
+default is 10 million, which handles all but the most extreme cases. You can
+override the default by suppling \fBpcre_exec()\fP with a \fBpcre_extra\fP
+block in which \fImatch_limit\fP is set, and PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT is set in
+the \fIflags\fP field. If the limit is exceeded, \fBpcre_exec()\fP returns
+PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT.
+.P
+A value for the match limit may also be supplied by an item at the start of a
+pattern of the form
+.sp
+  (*LIMIT_MATCH=d)
+.sp
+where d is a decimal number. However, such a setting is ignored unless d is
+less than the limit set by the caller of \fBpcre_exec()\fP or, if no such limit
+is set, less than the default.
+.P
+The \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP field is similar to \fImatch_limit\fP, but
+instead of limiting the total number of times that \fBmatch()\fP is called, it
+limits the depth of recursion. The recursion depth is a smaller number than the
+total number of calls, because not all calls to \fBmatch()\fP are recursive.
+This limit is of use only if it is set smaller than \fImatch_limit\fP.
+.P
+Limiting the recursion depth limits the amount of machine stack that can be
+used, or, when PCRE has been compiled to use memory on the heap instead of the
+stack, the amount of heap memory that can be used. This limit is not relevant,
+and is ignored, when matching is done using JIT compiled code.
+.P
+The default value for \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP can be set when PCRE is
+built; the default default is the same value as the default for
+\fImatch_limit\fP. You can override the default by suppling \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+with a \fBpcre_extra\fP block in which \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP is set, and
+PCRE_EXTRA_MATCH_LIMIT_RECURSION is set in the \fIflags\fP field. If the limit
+is exceeded, \fBpcre_exec()\fP returns PCRE_ERROR_RECURSIONLIMIT.
+.P
+A value for the recursion limit may also be supplied by an item at the start of
+a pattern of the form
+.sp
+  (*LIMIT_RECURSION=d)
+.sp
+where d is a decimal number. However, such a setting is ignored unless d is
+less than the limit set by the caller of \fBpcre_exec()\fP or, if no such limit
+is set, less than the default.
+.P
+The \fIcallout_data\fP field is used in conjunction with the "callout" feature,
+and is described in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecallout\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The \fItables\fP field is provided for use with patterns that have been
+pre-compiled using custom character tables, saved to disc or elsewhere, and
+then reloaded, because the tables that were used to compile a pattern are not
+saved with it. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreprecompile\fP
+.\"
+documentation for a discussion of saving compiled patterns for later use. If
+NULL is passed using this mechanism, it forces PCRE's internal tables to be
+used.
+.P
+\fBWarning:\fP The tables that \fBpcre_exec()\fP uses must be the same as those
+that were used when the pattern was compiled. If this is not the case, the
+behaviour of \fBpcre_exec()\fP is undefined. Therefore, when a pattern is
+compiled and matched in the same process, this field should never be set. In
+this (the most common) case, the correct table pointer is automatically passed
+with the compiled pattern from \fBpcre_compile()\fP to \fBpcre_exec()\fP.
+.P
+If PCRE_EXTRA_MARK is set in the \fIflags\fP field, the \fImark\fP field must
+be set to point to a suitable variable. If the pattern contains any
+backtracking control verbs such as (*MARK:NAME), and the execution ends up with
+a name to pass back, a pointer to the name string (zero terminated) is placed
+in the variable pointed to by the \fImark\fP field. The names are within the
+compiled pattern; if you wish to retain such a name you must copy it before
+freeing the memory of a compiled pattern. If there is no name to pass back, the
+variable pointed to by the \fImark\fP field is set to NULL. For details of the
+backtracking control verbs, see the section entitled
+.\" HTML <a href="pcrepattern#backtrackcontrol">
+.\" </a>
+"Backtracking control"
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="execoptions"></a>
+.SS "Option bits for \fBpcre_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+The unused bits of the \fIoptions\fP argument for \fBpcre_exec()\fP must be
+zero. The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEWLINE_\fIxxx\fP,
+PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART,
+PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE, PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, and
+PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT.
+.P
+If the pattern was successfully studied with one of the just-in-time (JIT)
+compile options, the only supported options for JIT execution are
+PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY,
+PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, and PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. If an
+unsupported option is used, JIT execution is disabled and the normal
+interpretive code in \fBpcre_exec()\fP is run.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ANCHORED
+.sp
+The PCRE_ANCHORED option limits \fBpcre_exec()\fP to matching at the first
+matching position. If a pattern was compiled with PCRE_ANCHORED, or turned out
+to be anchored by virtue of its contents, it cannot be made unachored at
+matching time.
+.sp
+  PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF
+  PCRE_BSR_UNICODE
+.sp
+These options (which are mutually exclusive) control what the \eR escape
+sequence matches. The choice is either to match only CR, LF, or CRLF, or to
+match any Unicode newline sequence. These options override the choice that was
+made or defaulted when the pattern was compiled.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_CR
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_LF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF
+  PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY
+.sp
+These options override the newline definition that was chosen or defaulted when
+the pattern was compiled. For details, see the description of
+\fBpcre_compile()\fP above. During matching, the newline choice affects the
+behaviour of the dot, circumflex, and dollar metacharacters. It may also alter
+the way the match position is advanced after a match failure for an unanchored
+pattern.
+.P
+When PCRE_NEWLINE_CRLF, PCRE_NEWLINE_ANYCRLF, or PCRE_NEWLINE_ANY is set, and a
+match attempt for an unanchored pattern fails when the current position is at a
+CRLF sequence, and the pattern contains no explicit matches for CR or LF
+characters, the match position is advanced by two characters instead of one, in
+other words, to after the CRLF.
+.P
+The above rule is a compromise that makes the most common cases work as
+expected. For example, if the pattern is .+A (and the PCRE_DOTALL option is not
+set), it does not match the string "\er\enA" because, after failing at the
+start, it skips both the CR and the LF before retrying. However, the pattern
+[\er\en]A does match that string, because it contains an explicit CR or LF
+reference, and so advances only by one character after the first failure.
+.P
+An explicit match for CR of LF is either a literal appearance of one of those
+characters, or one of the \er or \en escape sequences. Implicit matches such as
+[^X] do not count, nor does \es (which includes CR and LF in the characters
+that it matches).
+.P
+Notwithstanding the above, anomalous effects may still occur when CRLF is a
+valid newline sequence and explicit \er or \en escapes appear in the pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NOTBOL
+.sp
+This option specifies that first character of the subject string is not the
+beginning of a line, so the circumflex metacharacter should not match before
+it. Setting this without PCRE_MULTILINE (at compile time) causes circumflex
+never to match. This option affects only the behaviour of the circumflex
+metacharacter. It does not affect \eA.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NOTEOL
+.sp
+This option specifies that the end of the subject string is not the end of a
+line, so the dollar metacharacter should not match it nor (except in multiline
+mode) a newline immediately before it. Setting this without PCRE_MULTILINE (at
+compile time) causes dollar never to match. This option affects only the
+behaviour of the dollar metacharacter. It does not affect \eZ or \ez.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NOTEMPTY
+.sp
+An empty string is not considered to be a valid match if this option is set. If
+there are alternatives in the pattern, they are tried. If all the alternatives
+match the empty string, the entire match fails. For example, if the pattern
+.sp
+  a?b?
+.sp
+is applied to a string not beginning with "a" or "b", it matches an empty
+string at the start of the subject. With PCRE_NOTEMPTY set, this match is not
+valid, so PCRE searches further into the string for occurrences of "a" or "b".
+.sp
+  PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART
+.sp
+This is like PCRE_NOTEMPTY, except that an empty string match that is not at
+the start of the subject is permitted. If the pattern is anchored, such a match
+can occur only if the pattern contains \eK.
+.P
+Perl has no direct equivalent of PCRE_NOTEMPTY or PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART, but it
+does make a special case of a pattern match of the empty string within its
+\fBsplit()\fP function, and when using the /g modifier. It is possible to
+emulate Perl's behaviour after matching a null string by first trying the match
+again at the same offset with PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and PCRE_ANCHORED, and then
+if that fails, by advancing the starting offset (see below) and trying an
+ordinary match again. There is some code that demonstrates how to do this in
+the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcredemo\fP
+.\"
+sample program. In the most general case, you have to check to see if the
+newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, and if so, and the current
+character is CR followed by LF, advance the starting offset by two characters
+instead of one.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE
+.sp
+There are a number of optimizations that \fBpcre_exec()\fP uses at the start of
+a match, in order to speed up the process. For example, if it is known that an
+unanchored match must start with a specific character, it searches the subject
+for that character, and fails immediately if it cannot find it, without
+actually running the main matching function. This means that a special item
+such as (*COMMIT) at the start of a pattern is not considered until after a
+suitable starting point for the match has been found. Also, when callouts or
+(*MARK) items are in use, these "start-up" optimizations can cause them to be
+skipped if the pattern is never actually used. The start-up optimizations are
+in effect a pre-scan of the subject that takes place before the pattern is run.
+.P
+The PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE option disables the start-up optimizations, possibly
+causing performance to suffer, but ensuring that in cases where the result is
+"no match", the callouts do occur, and that items such as (*COMMIT) and (*MARK)
+are considered at every possible starting position in the subject string. If
+PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE is set at compile time, it cannot be unset at matching
+time. The use of PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE at matching time (that is, passing it
+to \fBpcre_exec()\fP) disables JIT execution; in this situation, matching is
+always done using interpretively.
+.P
+Setting PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE can change the outcome of a matching operation.
+Consider the pattern
+.sp
+  (*COMMIT)ABC
+.sp
+When this is compiled, PCRE records the fact that a match must start with the
+character "A". Suppose the subject string is "DEFABC". The start-up
+optimization scans along the subject, finds "A" and runs the first match
+attempt from there. The (*COMMIT) item means that the pattern must match the
+current starting position, which in this case, it does. However, if the same
+match is run with PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE set, the initial scan along the
+subject string does not happen. The first match attempt is run starting from
+"D" and when this fails, (*COMMIT) prevents any further matches being tried, so
+the overall result is "no match". If the pattern is studied, more start-up
+optimizations may be used. For example, a minimum length for the subject may be
+recorded. Consider the pattern
+.sp
+  (*MARK:A)(X|Y)
+.sp
+The minimum length for a match is one character. If the subject is "ABC", there
+will be attempts to match "ABC", "BC", "C", and then finally an empty string.
+If the pattern is studied, the final attempt does not take place, because PCRE
+knows that the subject is too short, and so the (*MARK) is never encountered.
+In this case, studying the pattern does not affect the overall match result,
+which is still "no match", but it does affect the auxiliary information that is
+returned.
+.sp
+  PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK
+.sp
+When PCRE_UTF8 is set at compile time, the validity of the subject as a UTF-8
+string is automatically checked when \fBpcre_exec()\fP is subsequently called.
+The entire string is checked before any other processing takes place. The value
+of \fIstartoffset\fP is also checked to ensure that it points to the start of a
+UTF-8 character. There is a discussion about the
+.\" HTML <a href="pcreunicode.html#utf8strings">
+.\" </a>
+validity of UTF-8 strings
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcreunicode\fP
+.\"
+page. If an invalid sequence of bytes is found, \fBpcre_exec()\fP returns the
+error PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or, if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a
+truncated character at the end of the subject, PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8. In both
+cases, information about the precise nature of the error may also be returned
+(see the descriptions of these errors in the section entitled \fIError return
+values from\fP \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+.\" HTML <a href="#errorlist">
+.\" </a>
+below).
+.\"
+If \fIstartoffset\fP contains a value that does not point to the start of a
+UTF-8 character (or to the end of the subject), PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET is
+returned.
+.P
+If you already know that your subject is valid, and you want to skip these
+checks for performance reasons, you can set the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option when
+calling \fBpcre_exec()\fP. You might want to do this for the second and
+subsequent calls to \fBpcre_exec()\fP if you are making repeated calls to find
+all the matches in a single subject string. However, you should be sure that
+the value of \fIstartoffset\fP points to the start of a character (or the end
+of the subject). When PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK is set, the effect of passing an
+invalid string as a subject or an invalid value of \fIstartoffset\fP is
+undefined. Your program may crash or loop.
+.sp
+  PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD
+  PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT
+.sp
+These options turn on the partial matching feature. For backwards
+compatibility, PCRE_PARTIAL is a synonym for PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. A partial match
+occurs if the end of the subject string is reached successfully, but there are
+not enough subject characters to complete the match. If this happens when
+PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT (but not PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD) is set, matching continues by
+testing any remaining alternatives. Only if no complete match can be found is
+PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH. In other words,
+PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT says that the caller is prepared to handle a partial match,
+but only if no complete match can be found.
+.P
+If PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, it overrides PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT. In this case, if a
+partial match is found, \fBpcre_exec()\fP immediately returns
+PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL, without considering any other alternatives. In other words,
+when PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set, a partial match is considered to be more
+important that an alternative complete match.
+.P
+In both cases, the portion of the string that was inspected when the partial
+match was found is set as the first matching string. There is a more detailed
+discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with examples, in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepartial\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.
+.
+.SS "The string to be matched by \fBpcre_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+The subject string is passed to \fBpcre_exec()\fP as a pointer in
+\fIsubject\fP, a length in \fIlength\fP, and a starting offset in
+\fIstartoffset\fP. The units for \fIlength\fP and \fIstartoffset\fP are bytes
+for the 8-bit library, 16-bit data items for the 16-bit library, and 32-bit
+data items for the 32-bit library.
+.P
+If \fIstartoffset\fP is negative or greater than the length of the subject,
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP returns PCRE_ERROR_BADOFFSET. When the starting offset is
+zero, the search for a match starts at the beginning of the subject, and this
+is by far the most common case. In UTF-8 or UTF-16 mode, the offset must point
+to the start of a character, or the end of the subject (in UTF-32 mode, one
+data unit equals one character, so all offsets are valid). Unlike the pattern
+string, the subject may contain binary zeroes.
+.P
+A non-zero starting offset is useful when searching for another match in the
+same subject by calling \fBpcre_exec()\fP again after a previous success.
+Setting \fIstartoffset\fP differs from just passing over a shortened string and
+setting PCRE_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern that begins with any kind of
+lookbehind. For example, consider the pattern
+.sp
+  \eBiss\eB
+.sp
+which finds occurrences of "iss" in the middle of words. (\eB matches only if
+the current position in the subject is not a word boundary.) When applied to
+the string "Mississipi" the first call to \fBpcre_exec()\fP finds the first
+occurrence. If \fBpcre_exec()\fP is called again with just the remainder of the
+subject, namely "issipi", it does not match, because \eB is always false at the
+start of the subject, which is deemed to be a word boundary. However, if
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP is passed the entire string again, but with \fIstartoffset\fP
+set to 4, it finds the second occurrence of "iss" because it is able to look
+behind the starting point to discover that it is preceded by a letter.
+.P
+Finding all the matches in a subject is tricky when the pattern can match an
+empty string. It is possible to emulate Perl's /g behaviour by first trying the
+match again at the same offset, with the PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART and
+PCRE_ANCHORED options, and then if that fails, advancing the starting offset
+and trying an ordinary match again. There is some code that demonstrates how to
+do this in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcredemo\fP
+.\"
+sample program. In the most general case, you have to check to see if the
+newline convention recognizes CRLF as a newline, and if so, and the current
+character is CR followed by LF, advance the starting offset by two characters
+instead of one.
+.P
+If a non-zero starting offset is passed when the pattern is anchored, one
+attempt to match at the given offset is made. This can only succeed if the
+pattern does not require the match to be at the start of the subject.
+.
+.
+.SS "How \fBpcre_exec()\fP returns captured substrings"
+.rs
+.sp
+In general, a pattern matches a certain portion of the subject, and in
+addition, further substrings from the subject may be picked out by parts of the
+pattern. Following the usage in Jeffrey Friedl's book, this is called
+"capturing" in what follows, and the phrase "capturing subpattern" is used for
+a fragment of a pattern that picks out a substring. PCRE supports several other
+kinds of parenthesized subpattern that do not cause substrings to be captured.
+.P
+Captured substrings are returned to the caller via a vector of integers whose
+address is passed in \fIovector\fP. The number of elements in the vector is
+passed in \fIovecsize\fP, which must be a non-negative number. \fBNote\fP: this
+argument is NOT the size of \fIovector\fP in bytes.
+.P
+The first two-thirds of the vector is used to pass back captured substrings,
+each substring using a pair of integers. The remaining third of the vector is
+used as workspace by \fBpcre_exec()\fP while matching capturing subpatterns,
+and is not available for passing back information. The number passed in
+\fIovecsize\fP should always be a multiple of three. If it is not, it is
+rounded down.
+.P
+When a match is successful, information about captured substrings is returned
+in pairs of integers, starting at the beginning of \fIovector\fP, and
+continuing up to two-thirds of its length at the most. The first element of
+each pair is set to the offset of the first character in a substring, and the
+second is set to the offset of the first character after the end of a
+substring. These values are always data unit offsets, even in UTF mode. They
+are byte offsets in the 8-bit library, 16-bit data item offsets in the 16-bit
+library, and 32-bit data item offsets in the 32-bit library. \fBNote\fP: they
+are not character counts.
+.P
+The first pair of integers, \fIovector[0]\fP and \fIovector[1]\fP, identify the
+portion of the subject string matched by the entire pattern. The next pair is
+used for the first capturing subpattern, and so on. The value returned by
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP is one more than the highest numbered pair that has been set.
+For example, if two substrings have been captured, the returned value is 3. If
+there are no capturing subpatterns, the return value from a successful match is
+1, indicating that just the first pair of offsets has been set.
+.P
+If a capturing subpattern is matched repeatedly, it is the last portion of the
+string that it matched that is returned.
+.P
+If the vector is too small to hold all the captured substring offsets, it is
+used as far as possible (up to two-thirds of its length), and the function
+returns a value of zero. If neither the actual string matched nor any captured
+substrings are of interest, \fBpcre_exec()\fP may be called with \fIovector\fP
+passed as NULL and \fIovecsize\fP as zero. However, if the pattern contains
+back references and the \fIovector\fP is not big enough to remember the related
+substrings, PCRE has to get additional memory for use during matching. Thus it
+is usually advisable to supply an \fIovector\fP of reasonable size.
+.P
+There are some cases where zero is returned (indicating vector overflow) when
+in fact the vector is exactly the right size for the final match. For example,
+consider the pattern
+.sp
+  (a)(?:(b)c|bd)
+.sp
+If a vector of 6 elements (allowing for only 1 captured substring) is given
+with subject string "abd", \fBpcre_exec()\fP will try to set the second
+captured string, thereby recording a vector overflow, before failing to match
+"c" and backing up to try the second alternative. The zero return, however,
+does correctly indicate that the maximum number of slots (namely 2) have been
+filled. In similar cases where there is temporary overflow, but the final
+number of used slots is actually less than the maximum, a non-zero value is
+returned.
+.P
+The \fBpcre_fullinfo()\fP function can be used to find out how many capturing
+subpatterns there are in a compiled pattern. The smallest size for
+\fIovector\fP that will allow for \fIn\fP captured substrings, in addition to
+the offsets of the substring matched by the whole pattern, is (\fIn\fP+1)*3.
+.P
+It is possible for capturing subpattern number \fIn+1\fP to match some part of
+the subject when subpattern \fIn\fP has not been used at all. For example, if
+the string "abc" is matched against the pattern (a|(z))(bc) the return from the
+function is 4, and subpatterns 1 and 3 are matched, but 2 is not. When this
+happens, both values in the offset pairs corresponding to unused subpatterns
+are set to -1.
+.P
+Offset values that correspond to unused subpatterns at the end of the
+expression are also set to -1. For example, if the string "abc" is matched
+against the pattern (abc)(x(yz)?)? subpatterns 2 and 3 are not matched. The
+return from the function is 2, because the highest used capturing subpattern
+number is 1, and the offsets for for the second and third capturing subpatterns
+(assuming the vector is large enough, of course) are set to -1.
+.P
+\fBNote\fP: Elements in the first two-thirds of \fIovector\fP that do not
+correspond to capturing parentheses in the pattern are never changed. That is,
+if a pattern contains \fIn\fP capturing parentheses, no more than
+\fIovector[0]\fP to \fIovector[2n+1]\fP are set by \fBpcre_exec()\fP. The other
+elements (in the first two-thirds) retain whatever values they previously had.
+.P
+Some convenience functions are provided for extracting the captured substrings
+as separate strings. These are described below.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="errorlist"></a>
+.SS "Error return values from \fBpcre_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+If \fBpcre_exec()\fP fails, it returns a negative number. The following are
+defined in the header file:
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH        (-1)
+.sp
+The subject string did not match the pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NULL           (-2)
+.sp
+Either \fIcode\fP or \fIsubject\fP was passed as NULL, or \fIovector\fP was
+NULL and \fIovecsize\fP was not zero.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADOPTION      (-3)
+.sp
+An unrecognized bit was set in the \fIoptions\fP argument.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADMAGIC       (-4)
+.sp
+PCRE stores a 4-byte "magic number" at the start of the compiled code, to catch
+the case when it is passed a junk pointer and to detect when a pattern that was
+compiled in an environment of one endianness is run in an environment with the
+other endianness. This is the error that PCRE gives when the magic number is
+not present.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_UNKNOWN_OPCODE (-5)
+.sp
+While running the pattern match, an unknown item was encountered in the
+compiled pattern. This error could be caused by a bug in PCRE or by overwriting
+of the compiled pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY       (-6)
+.sp
+If a pattern contains back references, but the \fIovector\fP that is passed to
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP is not big enough to remember the referenced substrings, PCRE
+gets a block of memory at the start of matching to use for this purpose. If the
+call via \fBpcre_malloc()\fP fails, this error is given. The memory is
+automatically freed at the end of matching.
+.P
+This error is also given if \fBpcre_stack_malloc()\fP fails in
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP. This can happen only when PCRE has been compiled with
+\fB--disable-stack-for-recursion\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING    (-7)
+.sp
+This error is used by the \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP,
+\fBpcre_get_substring()\fP, and \fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP functions (see
+below). It is never returned by \fBpcre_exec()\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_MATCHLIMIT     (-8)
+.sp
+The backtracking limit, as specified by the \fImatch_limit\fP field in a
+\fBpcre_extra\fP structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the description
+above.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_CALLOUT        (-9)
+.sp
+This error is never generated by \fBpcre_exec()\fP itself. It is provided for
+use by callout functions that want to yield a distinctive error code. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecallout\fP
+.\"
+documentation for details.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8        (-10)
+.sp
+A string that contains an invalid UTF-8 byte sequence was passed as a subject,
+and the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set. If the size of the output vector
+(\fIovecsize\fP) is at least 2, the byte offset to the start of the the invalid
+UTF-8 character is placed in the first element, and a reason code is placed in
+the second element. The reason codes are listed in the
+.\" HTML <a href="#badutf8reasons">
+.\" </a>
+following section.
+.\"
+For backward compatibility, if PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set and the problem is a
+truncated UTF-8 character at the end of the subject (reason codes 1 to 5),
+PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8 is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8_OFFSET (-11)
+.sp
+The UTF-8 byte sequence that was passed as a subject was checked and found to
+be valid (the PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK option was not set), but the value of
+\fIstartoffset\fP did not point to the beginning of a UTF-8 character or the
+end of the subject.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL        (-12)
+.sp
+The subject string did not match, but it did match partially. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepartial\fP
+.\"
+documentation for details of partial matching.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADPARTIAL     (-13)
+.sp
+This code is no longer in use. It was formerly returned when the PCRE_PARTIAL
+option was used with a compiled pattern containing items that were not
+supported for partial matching. From release 8.00 onwards, there are no
+restrictions on partial matching.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_INTERNAL       (-14)
+.sp
+An unexpected internal error has occurred. This error could be caused by a bug
+in PCRE or by overwriting of the compiled pattern.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADCOUNT       (-15)
+.sp
+This error is given if the value of the \fIovecsize\fP argument is negative.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_RECURSIONLIMIT (-21)
+.sp
+The internal recursion limit, as specified by the \fImatch_limit_recursion\fP
+field in a \fBpcre_extra\fP structure (or defaulted) was reached. See the
+description above.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADNEWLINE     (-23)
+.sp
+An invalid combination of PCRE_NEWLINE_\fIxxx\fP options was given.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADOFFSET      (-24)
+.sp
+The value of \fIstartoffset\fP was negative or greater than the length of the
+subject, that is, the value in \fIlength\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8      (-25)
+.sp
+This error is returned instead of PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 when the subject string
+ends with a truncated UTF-8 character and the PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD option is set.
+Information about the failure is returned as for PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8. It is in
+fact sufficient to detect this case, but this special error code for
+PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD precedes the implementation of returned information; it is
+retained for backwards compatibility.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_RECURSELOOP    (-26)
+.sp
+This error is returned when \fBpcre_exec()\fP detects a recursion loop within
+the pattern. Specifically, it means that either the whole pattern or a
+subpattern has been called recursively for the second time at the same position
+in the subject string. Some simple patterns that might do this are detected and
+faulted at compile time, but more complicated cases, in particular mutual
+recursions between two different subpatterns, cannot be detected until run
+time.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_JIT_STACKLIMIT (-27)
+.sp
+This error is returned when a pattern that was successfully studied using a
+JIT compile option is being matched, but the memory available for the
+just-in-time processing stack is not large enough. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation for more details.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADMODE        (-28)
+.sp
+This error is given if a pattern that was compiled by the 8-bit library is
+passed to a 16-bit or 32-bit library function, or vice versa.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADENDIANNESS  (-29)
+.sp
+This error is given if a pattern that was compiled and saved is reloaded on a
+host with different endianness. The utility function
+\fBpcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order()\fP can be used to convert such a pattern
+so that it runs on the new host.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_JIT_BADOPTION
+.sp
+This error is returned when a pattern that was successfully studied using a JIT
+compile option is being matched, but the matching mode (partial or complete
+match) does not correspond to any JIT compilation mode. When the JIT fast path
+function is used, this error may be also given for invalid options. See the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrejit\fP
+.\"
+documentation for more details.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_BADLENGTH      (-32)
+.sp
+This error is given if \fBpcre_exec()\fP is called with a negative value for
+the \fIlength\fP argument.
+.P
+Error numbers -16 to -20, -22, and 30 are not used by \fBpcre_exec()\fP.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="badutf8reasons"></a>
+.SS "Reason codes for invalid UTF-8 strings"
+.rs
+.sp
+This section applies only to the 8-bit library. The corresponding information
+for the 16-bit and 32-bit libraries is given in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcre16\fP
+.\"
+and
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcre32\fP
+.\"
+pages.
+.P
+When \fBpcre_exec()\fP returns either PCRE_ERROR_BADUTF8 or
+PCRE_ERROR_SHORTUTF8, and the size of the output vector (\fIovecsize\fP) is at
+least 2, the offset of the start of the invalid UTF-8 character is placed in
+the first output vector element (\fIovector[0]\fP) and a reason code is placed
+in the second element (\fIovector[1]\fP). The reason codes are given names in
+the \fBpcre.h\fP header file:
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR1
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR2
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR3
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR4
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR5
+.sp
+The string ends with a truncated UTF-8 character; the code specifies how many
+bytes are missing (1 to 5). Although RFC 3629 restricts UTF-8 characters to be
+no longer than 4 bytes, the encoding scheme (originally defined by RFC 2279)
+allows for up to 6 bytes, and this is checked first; hence the possibility of
+4 or 5 missing bytes.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR6
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR7
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR8
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR9
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR10
+.sp
+The two most significant bits of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th byte of the
+character do not have the binary value 0b10 (that is, either the most
+significant bit is 0, or the next bit is 1).
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR11
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR12
+.sp
+A character that is valid by the RFC 2279 rules is either 5 or 6 bytes long;
+these code points are excluded by RFC 3629.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR13
+.sp
+A 4-byte character has a value greater than 0x10fff; these code points are
+excluded by RFC 3629.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR14
+.sp
+A 3-byte character has a value in the range 0xd800 to 0xdfff; this range of
+code points are reserved by RFC 3629 for use with UTF-16, and so are excluded
+from UTF-8.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR15
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR16
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR17
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR18
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR19
+.sp
+A 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-byte character is "overlong", that is, it codes for a
+value that can be represented by fewer bytes, which is invalid. For example,
+the two bytes 0xc0, 0xae give the value 0x2e, whose correct coding uses just
+one byte.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR20
+.sp
+The two most significant bits of the first byte of a character have the binary
+value 0b10 (that is, the most significant bit is 1 and the second is 0). Such a
+byte can only validly occur as the second or subsequent byte of a multi-byte
+character.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR21
+.sp
+The first byte of a character has the value 0xfe or 0xff. These values can
+never occur in a valid UTF-8 string.
+.sp
+  PCRE_UTF8_ERR22
+.sp
+This error code was formerly used when the presence of a so-called
+"non-character" caused an error. Unicode corrigendum #9 makes it clear that
+such characters should not cause a string to be rejected, and so this code is
+no longer in use and is never returned.
+.
+.
+.SH "EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NUMBER"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_copy_substring(const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, int \fIstringnumber\fP, char *\fIbuffer\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIbuffersize\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_substring(const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, int \fIstringnumber\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIstringptr\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_substring_list(const char *\fIsubject\fP,
+.B "     int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIstringcount\fP, const char ***\fIlistptr\fP);"
+.fi
+.PP
+Captured substrings can be accessed directly by using the offsets returned by
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP in \fIovector\fP. For convenience, the functions
+\fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP, \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP, and
+\fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP are provided for extracting captured substrings
+as new, separate, zero-terminated strings. These functions identify substrings
+by number. The next section describes functions for extracting named
+substrings.
+.P
+A substring that contains a binary zero is correctly extracted and has a
+further zero added on the end, but the result is not, of course, a C string.
+However, you can process such a string by referring to the length that is
+returned by \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP and \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP.
+Unfortunately, the interface to \fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP is not adequate
+for handling strings containing binary zeros, because the end of the final
+string is not independently indicated.
+.P
+The first three arguments are the same for all three of these functions:
+\fIsubject\fP is the subject string that has just been successfully matched,
+\fIovector\fP is a pointer to the vector of integer offsets that was passed to
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP, and \fIstringcount\fP is the number of substrings that were
+captured by the match, including the substring that matched the entire regular
+expression. This is the value returned by \fBpcre_exec()\fP if it is greater
+than zero. If \fBpcre_exec()\fP returned zero, indicating that it ran out of
+space in \fIovector\fP, the value passed as \fIstringcount\fP should be the
+number of elements in the vector divided by three.
+.P
+The functions \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP and \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP
+extract a single substring, whose number is given as \fIstringnumber\fP. A
+value of zero extracts the substring that matched the entire pattern, whereas
+higher values extract the captured substrings. For \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP,
+the string is placed in \fIbuffer\fP, whose length is given by
+\fIbuffersize\fP, while for \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP a new block of memory is
+obtained via \fBpcre_malloc\fP, and its address is returned via
+\fIstringptr\fP. The yield of the function is the length of the string, not
+including the terminating zero, or one of these error codes:
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY       (-6)
+.sp
+The buffer was too small for \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP, or the attempt to get
+memory failed for \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING    (-7)
+.sp
+There is no substring whose number is \fIstringnumber\fP.
+.P
+The \fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP function extracts all available substrings
+and builds a list of pointers to them. All this is done in a single block of
+memory that is obtained via \fBpcre_malloc\fP. The address of the memory block
+is returned via \fIlistptr\fP, which is also the start of the list of string
+pointers. The end of the list is marked by a NULL pointer. The yield of the
+function is zero if all went well, or the error code
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY       (-6)
+.sp
+if the attempt to get the memory block failed.
+.P
+When any of these functions encounter a substring that is unset, which can
+happen when capturing subpattern number \fIn+1\fP matches some part of the
+subject, but subpattern \fIn\fP has not been used at all, they return an empty
+string. This can be distinguished from a genuine zero-length substring by
+inspecting the appropriate offset in \fIovector\fP, which is negative for unset
+substrings.
+.P
+The two convenience functions \fBpcre_free_substring()\fP and
+\fBpcre_free_substring_list()\fP can be used to free the memory returned by
+a previous call of \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP or
+\fBpcre_get_substring_list()\fP, respectively. They do nothing more than call
+the function pointed to by \fBpcre_free\fP, which of course could be called
+directly from a C program. However, PCRE is used in some situations where it is
+linked via a special interface to another programming language that cannot use
+\fBpcre_free\fP directly; it is for these cases that the functions are
+provided.
+.
+.
+.SH "EXTRACTING CAPTURED SUBSTRINGS BY NAME"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_get_stringnumber(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIname\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_copy_named_substring(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, const char *\fIstringname\fP,"
+.B "     char *\fIbuffer\fP, int \fIbuffersize\fP);"
+.sp
+.B int pcre_get_named_substring(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int *\fIovector\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIstringcount\fP, const char *\fIstringname\fP,"
+.B "     const char **\fIstringptr\fP);"
+.fi
+.PP
+To extract a substring by name, you first have to find associated number.
+For example, for this pattern
+.sp
+  (a+)b(?<xxx>\ed+)...
+.sp
+the number of the subpattern called "xxx" is 2. If the name is known to be
+unique (PCRE_DUPNAMES was not set), you can find the number from the name by
+calling \fBpcre_get_stringnumber()\fP. The first argument is the compiled
+pattern, and the second is the name. The yield of the function is the
+subpattern number, or PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if there is no subpattern of
+that name.
+.P
+Given the number, you can extract the substring directly, or use one of the
+functions described in the previous section. For convenience, there are also
+two functions that do the whole job.
+.P
+Most of the arguments of \fBpcre_copy_named_substring()\fP and
+\fBpcre_get_named_substring()\fP are the same as those for the similarly named
+functions that extract by number. As these are described in the previous
+section, they are not re-described here. There are just two differences:
+.P
+First, instead of a substring number, a substring name is given. Second, there
+is an extra argument, given at the start, which is a pointer to the compiled
+pattern. This is needed in order to gain access to the name-to-number
+translation table.
+.P
+These functions call \fBpcre_get_stringnumber()\fP, and if it succeeds, they
+then call \fBpcre_copy_substring()\fP or \fBpcre_get_substring()\fP, as
+appropriate. \fBNOTE:\fP If PCRE_DUPNAMES is set and there are duplicate names,
+the behaviour may not be what you want (see the next section).
+.P
+\fBWarning:\fP If the pattern uses the (?| feature to set up multiple
+subpatterns with the same number, as described in the
+.\" HTML <a href="pcrepattern.html#dupsubpatternnumber">
+.\" </a>
+section on duplicate subpattern numbers
+.\"
+in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+page, you cannot use names to distinguish the different subpatterns, because
+names are not included in the compiled code. The matching process uses only
+numbers. For this reason, the use of different names for subpatterns of the
+same number causes an error at compile time.
+.
+.
+.SH "DUPLICATE SUBPATTERN NAMES"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_get_stringtable_entries(const pcre *\fIcode\fP,
+.B "     const char *\fIname\fP, char **\fIfirst\fP, char **\fIlast\fP);"
+.fi
+.PP
+When a pattern is compiled with the PCRE_DUPNAMES option, names for subpatterns
+are not required to be unique. (Duplicate names are always allowed for
+subpatterns with the same number, created by using the (?| feature. Indeed, if
+such subpatterns are named, they are required to use the same names.)
+.P
+Normally, patterns with duplicate names are such that in any one match, only
+one of the named subpatterns participates. An example is shown in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepattern\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+When duplicates are present, \fBpcre_copy_named_substring()\fP and
+\fBpcre_get_named_substring()\fP return the first substring corresponding to
+the given name that is set. If none are set, PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) is
+returned; no data is returned. The \fBpcre_get_stringnumber()\fP function
+returns one of the numbers that are associated with the name, but it is not
+defined which it is.
+.P
+If you want to get full details of all captured substrings for a given name,
+you must use the \fBpcre_get_stringtable_entries()\fP function. The first
+argument is the compiled pattern, and the second is the name. The third and
+fourth are pointers to variables which are updated by the function. After it
+has run, they point to the first and last entries in the name-to-number table
+for the given name. The function itself returns the length of each entry, or
+PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING (-7) if there are none. The format of the table is
+described above in the section entitled \fIInformation about a pattern\fP
+.\" HTML <a href="#infoaboutpattern">
+.\" </a>
+above.
+.\"
+Given all the relevant entries for the name, you can extract each of their
+numbers, and hence the captured data, if any.
+.
+.
+.SH "FINDING ALL POSSIBLE MATCHES"
+.rs
+.sp
+The traditional matching function uses a similar algorithm to Perl, which stops
+when it finds the first match, starting at a given point in the subject. If you
+want to find all possible matches, or the longest possible match, consider
+using the alternative matching function (see below) instead. If you cannot use
+the alternative function, but still need to find all possible matches, you
+can kludge it up by making use of the callout facility, which is described in
+the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrecallout\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+What you have to do is to insert a callout right at the end of the pattern.
+When your callout function is called, extract and save the current matched
+substring. Then return 1, which forces \fBpcre_exec()\fP to backtrack and try
+other alternatives. Ultimately, when it runs out of matches, \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+will yield PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH.
+.
+.
+.SH "OBTAINING AN ESTIMATE OF STACK USAGE"
+.rs
+.sp
+Matching certain patterns using \fBpcre_exec()\fP can use a lot of process
+stack, which in certain environments can be rather limited in size. Some users
+find it helpful to have an estimate of the amount of stack that is used by
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP, to help them set recursion limits, as described in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrestack\fP
+.\"
+documentation. The estimate that is output by \fBpcretest\fP when called with
+the \fB-m\fP and \fB-C\fP options is obtained by calling \fBpcre_exec\fP with
+the values NULL, NULL, NULL, -999, and -999 for its first five arguments.
+.P
+Normally, if its first argument is NULL, \fBpcre_exec()\fP immediately returns
+the negative error code PCRE_ERROR_NULL, but with this special combination of
+arguments, it returns instead a negative number whose absolute value is the
+approximate stack frame size in bytes. (A negative number is used so that it is
+clear that no match has happened.) The value is approximate because in some
+cases, recursive calls to \fBpcre_exec()\fP occur when there are one or two
+additional variables on the stack.
+.P
+If PCRE has been compiled to use the heap instead of the stack for recursion,
+the value returned is the size of each block that is obtained from the heap.
+.
+.
+.\" HTML <a name="dfamatch"></a>
+.SH "MATCHING A PATTERN: THE ALTERNATIVE FUNCTION"
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+.B int pcre_dfa_exec(const pcre *\fIcode\fP, "const pcre_extra *\fIextra\fP,"
+.B "     const char *\fIsubject\fP, int \fIlength\fP, int \fIstartoffset\fP,"
+.B "     int \fIoptions\fP, int *\fIovector\fP, int \fIovecsize\fP,"
+.B "     int *\fIworkspace\fP, int \fIwscount\fP);"
+.fi
+.P
+The function \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP is called to match a subject string against
+a compiled pattern, using a matching algorithm that scans the subject string
+just once, and does not backtrack. This has different characteristics to the
+normal algorithm, and is not compatible with Perl. Some of the features of PCRE
+patterns are not supported. Nevertheless, there are times when this kind of
+matching can be useful. For a discussion of the two matching algorithms, and a
+list of features that \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP does not support, see the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrematching\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.P
+The arguments for the \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP function are the same as for
+\fBpcre_exec()\fP, plus two extras. The \fIovector\fP argument is used in a
+different way, and this is described below. The other common arguments are used
+in the same way as for \fBpcre_exec()\fP, so their description is not repeated
+here.
+.P
+The two additional arguments provide workspace for the function. The workspace
+vector should contain at least 20 elements. It is used for keeping track of
+multiple paths through the pattern tree. More workspace will be needed for
+patterns and subjects where there are a lot of potential matches.
+.P
+Here is an example of a simple call to \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP:
+.sp
+  int rc;
+  int ovector[10];
+  int wspace[20];
+  rc = pcre_dfa_exec(
+    re,             /* result of pcre_compile() */
+    NULL,           /* we didn't study the pattern */
+    "some string",  /* the subject string */
+    11,             /* the length of the subject string */
+    0,              /* start at offset 0 in the subject */
+    0,              /* default options */
+    ovector,        /* vector of integers for substring information */
+    10,             /* number of elements (NOT size in bytes) */
+    wspace,         /* working space vector */
+    20);            /* number of elements (NOT size in bytes) */
+.
+.SS "Option bits for \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+The unused bits of the \fIoptions\fP argument for \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP must be
+zero. The only bits that may be set are PCRE_ANCHORED, PCRE_NEWLINE_\fIxxx\fP,
+PCRE_NOTBOL, PCRE_NOTEOL, PCRE_NOTEMPTY, PCRE_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART,
+PCRE_NO_UTF8_CHECK, PCRE_BSR_ANYCRLF, PCRE_BSR_UNICODE, PCRE_NO_START_OPTIMIZE,
+PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD, PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT, PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST, and PCRE_DFA_RESTART.
+All but the last four of these are exactly the same as for \fBpcre_exec()\fP,
+so their description is not repeated here.
+.sp
+  PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD
+  PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT
+.sp
+These have the same general effect as they do for \fBpcre_exec()\fP, but the
+details are slightly different. When PCRE_PARTIAL_HARD is set for
+\fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP, it returns PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the subject
+is reached and there is still at least one matching possibility that requires
+additional characters. This happens even if some complete matches have also
+been found. When PCRE_PARTIAL_SOFT is set, the return code PCRE_ERROR_NOMATCH
+is converted into PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL if the end of the subject is reached,
+there have been no complete matches, but there is still at least one matching
+possibility. The portion of the string that was inspected when the longest
+partial match was found is set as the first matching string in both cases.
+There is a more detailed discussion of partial and multi-segment matching, with
+examples, in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepartial\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.sp
+  PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST
+.sp
+Setting the PCRE_DFA_SHORTEST option causes the matching algorithm to stop as
+soon as it has found one match. Because of the way the alternative algorithm
+works, this is necessarily the shortest possible match at the first possible
+matching point in the subject string.
+.sp
+  PCRE_DFA_RESTART
+.sp
+When \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP returns a partial match, it is possible to call it
+again, with additional subject characters, and have it continue with the same
+match. The PCRE_DFA_RESTART option requests this action; when it is set, the
+\fIworkspace\fP and \fIwscount\fP options must reference the same vector as
+before because data about the match so far is left in them after a partial
+match. There is more discussion of this facility in the
+.\" HREF
+\fBpcrepartial\fP
+.\"
+documentation.
+.
+.
+.SS "Successful returns from \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+When \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP succeeds, it may have matched more than one
+substring in the subject. Note, however, that all the matches from one run of
+the function start at the same point in the subject. The shorter matches are
+all initial substrings of the longer matches. For example, if the pattern
+.sp
+  <.*>
+.sp
+is matched against the string
+.sp
+  This is <something> <something else> <something further> no more
+.sp
+the three matched strings are
+.sp
+  <something>
+  <something> <something else>
+  <something> <something else> <something further>
+.sp
+On success, the yield of the function is a number greater than zero, which is
+the number of matched substrings. The substrings themselves are returned in
+\fIovector\fP. Each string uses two elements; the first is the offset to the
+start, and the second is the offset to the end. In fact, all the strings have
+the same start offset. (Space could have been saved by giving this only once,
+but it was decided to retain some compatibility with the way \fBpcre_exec()\fP
+returns data, even though the meaning of the strings is different.)
+.P
+The strings are returned in reverse order of length; that is, the longest
+matching string is given first. If there were too many matches to fit into
+\fIovector\fP, the yield of the function is zero, and the vector is filled with
+the longest matches. Unlike \fBpcre_exec()\fP, \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP can use
+the entire \fIovector\fP for returning matched strings.
+.P
+NOTE: PCRE's "auto-possessification" optimization usually applies to character
+repeats at the end of a pattern (as well as internally). For example, the
+pattern "a\ed+" is compiled as if it were "a\ed++" because there is no point
+even considering the possibility of backtracking into the repeated digits. For
+DFA matching, this means that only one possible match is found. If you really
+do want multiple matches in such cases, either use an ungreedy repeat
+("a\ed+?") or set the PCRE_NO_AUTO_POSSESS option when compiling.
+.
+.
+.SS "Error returns from \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP"
+.rs
+.sp
+The \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP function returns a negative number when it fails.
+Many of the errors are the same as for \fBpcre_exec()\fP, and these are
+described
+.\" HTML <a href="#errorlist">
+.\" </a>
+above.
+.\"
+There are in addition the following errors that are specific to
+\fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP:
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UITEM      (-16)
+.sp
+This return is given if \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP encounters an item in the pattern
+that it does not support, for instance, the use of \eC or a back reference.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UCOND      (-17)
+.sp
+This return is given if \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP encounters a condition item that
+uses a back reference for the condition, or a test for recursion in a specific
+group. These are not supported.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_UMLIMIT    (-18)
+.sp
+This return is given if \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP is called with an \fIextra\fP
+block that contains a setting of the \fImatch_limit\fP or
+\fImatch_limit_recursion\fP fields. This is not supported (these fields are
+meaningless for DFA matching).
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_WSSIZE     (-19)
+.sp
+This return is given if \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP runs out of space in the
+\fIworkspace\fP vector.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_RECURSE    (-20)
+.sp
+When a recursive subpattern is processed, the matching function calls itself
+recursively, using private vectors for \fIovector\fP and \fIworkspace\fP. This
+error is given if the output vector is not large enough. This should be
+extremely rare, as a vector of size 1000 is used.
+.sp
+  PCRE_ERROR_DFA_BADRESTART (-30)
+.sp
+When \fBpcre_dfa_exec()\fP is called with the \fBPCRE_DFA_RESTART\fP option,
+some plausibility checks are made on the contents of the workspace, which
+should contain data about the previous partial match. If any of these checks
+fail, this error is given.
+.
+.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+.rs
+.sp
+\fBpcre16\fP(3), \fBpcre32\fP(3), \fBpcrebuild\fP(3), \fBpcrecallout\fP(3),
+\fBpcrecpp(3)\fP(3), \fBpcrematching\fP(3), \fBpcrepartial\fP(3),
+\fBpcreposix\fP(3), \fBpcreprecompile\fP(3), \fBpcresample\fP(3),
+\fBpcrestack\fP(3).
+.
+.
+.SH AUTHOR
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+Philip Hazel
+University Computing Service
+Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
+.fi
+.
+.
+.SH REVISION
+.rs
+.sp
+.nf
+Last updated: 18 December 2015
+Copyright (c) 1997-2015 University of Cambridge.
+.fi