1<html> 2<head> 3<title>pcre2_match specification</title> 4</head> 5<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#00005A" link="#0066FF" alink="#3399FF" vlink="#2222BB"> 6<h1>pcre2_match man page</h1> 7<p> 8Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>. 9</p> 10<p> 11This page is part of the PCRE2 HTML documentation. It was generated 12automatically from the original man page. If there is any nonsense in it, 13please consult the man page, in case the conversion went wrong. 14<br> 15<br><b> 16SYNOPSIS 17</b><br> 18<P> 19<b>#include <pcre2.h></b> 20</P> 21<P> 22<b>int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *<i>code</i>, PCRE2_SPTR <i>subject</i>,</b> 23<b> PCRE2_SIZE <i>length</i>, PCRE2_SIZE <i>startoffset</i>,</b> 24<b> uint32_t <i>options</i>, pcre2_match_data *<i>match_data</i>,</b> 25<b> pcre2_match_context *<i>mcontext</i>);</b> 26</P> 27<br><b> 28DESCRIPTION 29</b><br> 30<P> 31This function matches a compiled regular expression against a given subject 32string, using a matching algorithm that is similar to Perl's. It returns 33offsets to what it has matched and to captured substrings via the 34<b>match_data</b> block, which can be processed by functions with names that 35start with <b>pcre2_get_ovector_...()</b> or <b>pcre2_substring_...()</b>. The 36return from <b>pcre2_match()</b> is one more than the highest numbered capturing 37pair that has been set (for example, 1 if there are no captures), zero if the 38vector of offsets is too small, or a negative error code for no match and other 39errors. The function arguments are: 40<pre> 41 <i>code</i> Points to the compiled pattern 42 <i>subject</i> Points to the subject string 43 <i>length</i> Length of the subject string 44 <i>startoffset</i> Offset in the subject at which to start matching 45 <i>options</i> Option bits 46 <i>match_data</i> Points to a match data block, for results 47 <i>mcontext</i> Points to a match context, or is NULL 48</pre> 49A match context is needed only if you want to: 50<pre> 51 Set up a callout function 52 Set a matching offset limit 53 Change the heap memory limit 54 Change the backtracking match limit 55 Change the backtracking depth limit 56 Set custom memory management specifically for the match 57</pre> 58The <i>length</i> and <i>startoffset</i> values are code units, not characters. 59The length may be given as PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATED for a subject that is 60terminated by a binary zero code unit. The options are: 61<pre> 62 PCRE2_ANCHORED Match only at the first position 63 PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT 64 On success, make a private subject copy 65 PCRE2_DISABLE_RECURSELOOP_CHECK 66 Only useful in rare cases; use with care 67 PCRE2_ENDANCHORED Pattern can match only at end of subject 68 PCRE2_NOTBOL Subject string is not the beginning of a line 69 PCRE2_NOTEOL Subject string is not the end of a line 70 PCRE2_NOTEMPTY An empty string is not a valid match 71 PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART An empty string at the start of the subject is not a valid match 72 PCRE2_NO_JIT Do not use JIT matching 73 PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK Do not check the subject for UTF validity (only relevant if PCRE2_UTF 74 was set at compile time) 75 PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match even if there is a full match 76 PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match if no full matches are found 77</pre> 78For details of partial matching, see the 79<a href="pcre2partial.html"><b>pcre2partial</b></a> 80page. There is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the 81<a href="pcre2api.html"><b>pcre2api</b></a> 82page and a description of the POSIX API in the 83<a href="pcre2posix.html"><b>pcre2posix</b></a> 84page. 85<p> 86Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>. 87</p> 88