diff options
| author | Richard M. Stallman <[email protected]> | 2002-03-21 09:37:22 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Richard M. Stallman <[email protected]> | 2002-03-21 09:37:22 +0000 |
| commit | bed0fc913cfff3f02eba6c7ee5e2fe144f3f1465 (patch) | |
| tree | 803022fedba82ca76dee99f64b304abd4f2ce7a4 /man/search.texi | |
| parent | 54f035751f81b76bf177b41cefebf0716be91cec (diff) | |
Clarify non-greedy repetition in searching.
Diffstat (limited to 'man/search.texi')
| -rw-r--r-- | man/search.texi | 7 |
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/man/search.texi b/man/search.texi index 36ed374715..1739f93bc8 100644 --- a/man/search.texi +++ b/man/search.texi @@ -463,6 +463,13 @@ the text @samp{abbb}, @samp{ab*} will match it all (the longest valid match), while @samp{ab*?} will match just @samp{a} (the shortest valid match). +Non-greedy operators match the shortest possible string starting at a +given starting point; in a forward search, though, the earliest +possible starting point for match is always the one chosen. Thus, if +you search for @samp{a.*?$} against the text @samp{abbab} followed by +a newline, it matches the whole string. Since it @emph{can} match +starting at the first @samp{a}, it does. + @item \@{@var{n}\@} is a postfix operator that specifies repetition @var{n} times---that is, the preceding regular expression must match exactly @var{n} times |