diff options
author | Richard M. Stallman <[email protected]> | 2004-09-28 15:23:44 +0000 |
---|---|---|
committer | Richard M. Stallman <[email protected]> | 2004-09-28 15:23:44 +0000 |
commit | 4d4d2d07a46f65709fe1727d477245b4b3649974 (patch) | |
tree | fbdb187a14dc99626b3ac141b2f6533ee18262fc /lispref | |
parent | 62ea61af7c3a8753dbdfaabab02b2ba4e17b98cc (diff) |
(Regexp Search): Add looking-back.
Diffstat (limited to 'lispref')
-rw-r--r-- | lispref/searching.texi | 26 |
1 files changed, 26 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/lispref/searching.texi b/lispref/searching.texi index fd0d0e172a..93a152fbbe 100644 --- a/lispref/searching.texi +++ b/lispref/searching.texi @@ -975,6 +975,32 @@ comes back" twice. @end example @end defun +@defun looking-back regexp &optional limit +This function returns @code{t} if @var{regexp} matches text before +point, ending at point, and @code{nil} otherwise. + +Because regular expression matching works only going forward, this is +implemented by searching backwards from point for a match that ends at +point. That can be quite slow if it has to search a long distance. +You can bound the time required by specifying @var{limit}, which says +not to search before @var{limit}. In this case, the match that is +found must begin at or after @var{limit}. + +@example +@group +---------- Buffer: foo ---------- +I read "@point{}The cat in the hat +comes back" twice. +---------- Buffer: foo ---------- + +(looking-back "read \"" 3) + @result{} t +(looking-back "read \"" 4) + @result{} nil +@end group +@end example +@end defun + @node POSIX Regexps @section POSIX Regular Expression Searching |