# TRE API reference manual

## The `regcomp()` functions

`#include <tre/regex.h>
int regcomp(regex_t *preg, const char *regex, int cflags);
int regncomp(regex_t *preg, const char *regex, size_t len, int cflags);
int regwcomp(regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *regex, int cflags);
int regwncomp(regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *regex, size_t len, int cflags);
void regfree(regex_t *preg);
`

The `regcomp()` function compiles the regex string pointed to by `regex` to an internal representation and stores the result in the pattern buffer structure pointed to by `preg`. The `regncomp()` function is like `regcomp()`, but `regex` is not terminated with the null byte. Instead, the `len` argument is used to give the length of the string, and the string may contain null bytes. The `regwcomp()` and `regwncomp()` functions work like `regcomp()` and `regncomp()`, respectively, but take a wide character (`wchar_t`) string instead of a byte string.

The `cflags` argument is a the bitwise inclusive OR of zero or more of the following flags (defined in the header `<tre/regex.h>`):

> `REG_EXTENDED`
>   Use POSIX Extended Regular Expression (ERE) compatible syntax when compiling `regex`. The default syntax is the POSIX Basic Regular Expression (BRE) syntax, but it is considered obsolete.
> `REG_ICASE`
>   Ignore case. Subsequent searches with the `regexec` family of functions using this pattern buffer will be case insensitive.
> `REG_NOSUB`
>   Do not report submatches. Subsequent searches with the `regexec` family of functions will only report whether a match was found or not and will not fill the submatch array.
> `REG_NEWLINE`
>   Normally the newline character is treated as an ordinary character. When this flag is used, the newline character (`'\n'`, ASCII code 10) is treated specially as follows:
>   1. The match-any-character operator (dot `"."` outside a bracket expression) does not match a newline.
>   2. A non-matching list (`[^...]`) not containing a newline does not match a newline.
>   3. The match-beginning-of-line operator `^` matches the empty string immediately after a newline as well as the empty string at the beginning of the string (but see the `REG_NOTBOL` `regexec()` flag below).
>   4. The match-end-of-line operator `$` matches the empty string immediately before a newline as well as the empty string at the end of the string (but see the `REG_NOTEOL` `regexec()` flag below).
> `REG_LITERAL`
>   Interpret the entire `regex` argument as a literal string, that is, all characters will be considered ordinary. This is a nonstandard extension, compatible with but not specified by POSIX.
> `REG_NOSPEC`
>   Same as `REG_LITERAL`. This flag is provided for compatibility with BSD.
> `REG_RIGHT_ASSOC`
>   By default, concatenation is left associative in TRE, as per the grammar given in the base specifications on regular expressions of Std 1003.1-2001 (POSIX). This flag flips associativity of concatenation to right associative. Associativity can have an effect on how a match is divided into submatches, but does not change what is matched by the entire regexp.
> `REG_UNGREEDY`
>   By default, repetition operators are greedy in TRE as per Std 1003.1-2001 (POSIX) and can be forced to be non-greedy by appending a `?` character. This flag reverses this behavior by making the operators non-greedy by default and greedy when a `?` is specified.

After a successful call to `regcomp` it is possible to use the `preg` pattern buffer for searching for matches in strings (see below). Once the pattern buffer is no longer needed, it should be freed with `regfree` to free the memory allocated for it.

The `regex_t` structure has the following fields that the application can read:

> `size_t re_nsub`
>   Number of parenthesized subexpressions in `regex`.

The `regcomp` function returns zero if the compilation was successful, or one of the following error codes if there was an error:

> `REG_BADPAT`
>   Invalid regexp. TRE returns this only if a multibyte character set is used in the current locale, and `regex` contained an invalid multibyte sequence.
> `REG_ECOLLATE`
>   Invalid collating element referenced. TRE returns this whenever equivalence classes or multicharacter collating elements are used in bracket expressions (they are not supported yet).
> `REG_ECTYPE`
>   Unknown character class name in `[[:name:]]`.
> `REG_EESCAPE`
>   The last character of `regex` was a backslash (`\`).
> `REG_ESUBREG`
>   Invalid back reference; number in `\digit` invalid.
> `REG_EBRACK`
>   `[]` imbalance.
> `REG_EPAREN`
>   `\(\)` or `()` imbalance.
> `REG_EBRACE`
>   `\{\}` or `{}` imbalance.
> `REG_BADBR`
>   `{}` content invalid: not a number, more than two numbers, first larger than second, or number too large.
> `REG_ERANGE`
>   Invalid character range, e.g. ending point is earlier in the collating order than the starting point.
> `REG_ESPACE`
>   Out of memory, or an internal limit exceeded.
> `REG_BADRPT`
>   Invalid use of repetition operators: two or more repetition operators have been chained in an undefined way.

## The `regexec()` functions

`#include <tre/regex.h>
int regexec(const regex_t *preg, const char *string, size_t nmatch,
regmatch_t pmatch[], int eflags);
int regnexec(const regex_t *preg, const char *string, size_t len,
size_t nmatch, regmatch_t pmatch[], int eflags);
int regwexec(const regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *string, size_t nmatch,
regmatch_t pmatch[], int eflags);
int regwnexec(const regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *string, size_t len,
size_t nmatch, regmatch_t pmatch[], int eflags);`

The `regexec()` function matches the null-terminated string against the compiled regexp `preg`, initialized by a previous call to any one of the `regcomp` functions. The `regnexec()` function is like `regexec()`, but `string` is not terminated with a null byte. Instead, the `len` argument is used to give the length of the string, and the string may contain null bytes. The `regwexec()` and `regwnexec()` functions work like `regexec()` and `regnexec()`, respectively, but take a wide character (`wchar_t`) string instead of a byte string. The `eflags` argument is a bitwise OR of zero or more of the following flags:

> `REG_NOTBOL`

>   When this flag is used, the match-beginning-of-line operator `^` does not match the empty string at the beginning of `string`. If `REG_NEWLINE` was used when compiling `preg` the empty string immediately after a newline character will still be matched.

> `REG_NOTEOL`

>   When this flag is used, the match-end-of-line operator `$` does not match the empty string at the end of `string`. If `REG_NEWLINE` was used when compiling `preg` the empty string immediately before a newline character will still be matched.

> These flags are useful when different portions of a string are passed to `regexec` and the beginning or end of the partial string should not be interpreted as the beginning or end of a line.

If `REG_NOSUB` was used when compiling `preg`, `nmatch` is zero, or `pmatch` is `NULL`, then the `pmatch` argument is ignored. Otherwise, the submatches corresponding to the parenthesized subexpressions are filled in the elements of `pmatch`, which must be dimensioned to have at least `nmatch` elements.

The `regmatch_t` structure contains at least the following fields:

> `regoff_t rm_so`
>   Offset from start of `string` to start of substring.
> `regoff_t rm_eo`
>   Offset from start of `string` to the first character after the substring.

The length of a submatch can be computed by subtracting `rm_eo` and `rm_so`. If a parenthesized subexpression did not participate in a match, the `rm_so` and `rm_eo` fields for the corresponding `pmatch` element are set to `-1`. Note that when a multibyte character set is in effect, the submatch offsets are given as byte offsets, not character offsets.

The `regexec()` functions return zero if a match was found, otherwise they return `REG_NOMATCH` to indicate no match, or `REG_ESPACE` to indicate that enough temporary memory could not be allocated to complete the matching operation.

### reguexec()

`#include <tre/regex.h>
typedef struct {
int (*get_next_char)(tre_char_t *c, unsigned int *pos_add, void *context);
void (*rewind)(size_t pos, void *context);
int (*compare)(size_t pos1, size_t pos2, size_t len, void *context);
void *context;
} tre_str_source;
int reguexec(const regex_t *preg, const tre_str_source *string, size_t nmatch,
regmatch_t pmatch[], int eflags);`

The `reguexec()` function works just like the other `regexec()` functions, except that the input string is read from user specified callback functions instead of a character array. This makes it possible, for example, to match regexps over arbitrary user specified data structures.

The `tre_str_source` structure contains the following fields:

> `get_next_char`
>   This function must retrieve the next available character. If a character is not available, the space pointed to by `c` must be set to zero and it must return a nonzero value. If a character is available, it must be stored to the space pointed to by `c`, and the integer pointer to by `pos_add` must be set to the number of units advanced in the input (the value must be `>=1`), and zero must be returned.
> `rewind`
>   This function must rewind the input stream to the position specified by `pos`. Unless the regexp uses back references, `rewind` is not needed and can be set to `NULL`.
> `compare`
>   This function compares two substrings in the input streams starting at the positions specified by `pos1` and `pos2` of length `len`. If the substrings are equal, `compare` must return zero, otherwise a nonzero value must be returned. Unless the regexp uses back references, `compare` is not needed and can be set to `NULL`.
> `context`
>   This is a context variable, passed as the last argument to all of the above functions for keeping track of the internal state of the users code.

The position in the input stream is measured in `size_t` units. The current position is the sum of the increments gotten from `pos_add` (plus the position of the last `rewind`, if any). The starting position is zero. Submatch positions filled in the `pmatch[]` array are, of course, given using positions computed in this way.

For an example of how to use `reguexec()`, see the `tests/test-str-source.c` file in the TRE source code distribution.

## The approximate matching functions

`#include <tre/regex.h>
typedef struct {
int cost_ins;
int cost_del;
int cost_subst;
int max_cost;
int max_ins;
int max_del;
int max_subst;
int max_err;
} regaparams_t;
typedef struct {
size_t nmatch;
regmatch_t *pmatch;
int cost;
int num_ins;
int num_del;
int num_subst;
} regamatch_t;
int regaexec(const regex_t *preg, const char *string,
regamatch_t *match, regaparams_t params, int eflags);
int reganexec(const regex_t *preg, const char *string, size_t len,
regamatch_t *match, regaparams_t params, int eflags);
int regawexec(const regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *string,
regamatch_t *match, regaparams_t params, int eflags);
int regawnexec( const regex_t *preg, const wchar_t *string, size_t len,
regamatch_t *match, regaparams_t params, int eflags);
`

The `regaexec()` function searches for the best match in `string` against the compiled regexp `preg`, initialized by a previous call to any one of the `regcomp` functions.

The `reganexec()` function is like `regaexec()`, but `string` is not terminated by a null byte. Instead, the `len` argument is used to tell the length of the string, and the string may contain null bytes. The `regawexec()` and `regawnexec()` functions work like `regaexec()` and `reganexec()`, respectively, but take a wide character (`wchar_t`) string instead of a byte string.

The `eflags` argument is like for the regexec() functions.

The `params` struct controls the approximate matching parameters:

> `int` `cost_ins`
>   The default cost of an inserted character, that is, an extra character in `string`.
> `int` `cost_del`
>   The default cost of a deleted character, that is, a character missing from `string`.
> `int` `cost_subst`
>   The default cost of a substituted character.
> `int` `max_cost`
>   The maximum allowed cost of a match. If this is set to zero, an exact matching is searched for, and results equivalent to those returned by the `regexec()` functions are returned.
> `int` `max_ins`
>   Maximum allowed number of inserted characters.
> `int` `max_del`
>   Maximum allowed number of deleted characters.
> `int` `max_subst`
>   Maximum allowed number of substituted characters.
> `int` `max_err`
>   Maximum allowed number of errors (inserts + deletes + substitutes).

The `match` argument points to a `regamatch_t` structure. The `nmatch` and `pmatch` field must be filled by the caller. If `REG_NOSUB` was used when compiling the regexp, or `match->nmatch` is zero, or `match->pmatch` is `NULL`, the `match->pmatch` argument is ignored. Otherwise, the submatches corresponding to the parenthesized subexpressions are filled in the elements of `match->pmatch`, which must be dimensioned to have at least `match->nmatch` elements. The `match->cost` field is set to the cost of the match found, and the `match->num_ins`, `match->num_del`, and `match->num_subst` fields are set to the number of inserts, deletes, and substitutes in the match, respectively.

The `regaexec()` functions return zero if a match with cost smaller than `params->max_cost` was found, otherwise they return `REG_NOMATCH` to indicate no match, or `REG_ESPACE` to indicate that enough temporary memory could not be allocated to complete the matching operation.

## Miscellaneous

`#include <tre/regex.h>
int tre_have_backrefs(const regex_t *preg);
int tre_have_approx(const regex_t *preg);
`

The `tre_have_backrefs()` and `tre_have_approx()` functions return 1 if the compiled pattern has back references or uses approximate matching, respectively, and 0 if not.

## Checking build time options

`#include <tre/regex.h>
char *tre_version(void);
int tre_config(int query, void *result);
`

The `tre_config()` function can be used to retrieve information of which optional features have been compiled into the TRE library and information of other parameters that may change between releases.

The `query` argument is an integer telling what information is requested for. The `result` argument is a pointer to a variable where the information is returned. The return value of a call to `tre_config()` is zero if `query` was recognized, REG_NOMATCH otherwise.

The following values are recognized for `query`:

> `TRE_CONFIG_APPROX`
>   The result is an integer that is set to one if approximate matching support is available, zero if not.
> `TRE_CONFIG_WCHAR`
>   The result is an integer that is set to one if wide character support is available, zero if not.
> `TRE_CONFIG_MULTIBYTE`
>   The result is an integer that is set to one if multibyte character set support is available, zero if not.
> `TRE_CONFIG_SYSTEM_ABI`
>   The result is an integer that is set to one if TRE has been compiled to be compatible with the system regex ABI, zero if not.
> `TRE_CONFIG_VERSION`
>   The result is a pointer to a static character string that gives the version of the TRE library.

The `tre_version()` function returns a short human readable character string which shows the software name, version, and license.

## Preprocessor definitions

The header `<tre/regex.h>` defines certain C preprocessor symbols.

### Version information

The following definitions may be useful for checking whether a new enough version is being used. Note that it is recommended to use the `pkg-config` tool for version and other checks in Autoconf scripts.

> `TRE_VERSION`
>   The version string.
> `TRE_VERSION_1`
>   The major version number (first part of version string).
> `TRE_VERSION_2`
>   The minor version number (second part of version string).
> `TRE_VERSION_3`
>   The micro version number (third part of version string).

### Features

The following definitions may be useful for checking whether all necessary features are enabled. Use these only if compile time checking suffices (linking statically with TRE). When linking dynamically `tre_config()` should be used instead.

> `TRE_APPROX`
>   This is defined if approximate matching support is enabled. The prototypes for approximate matching functions are defined only if `TRE_APPROX` is defined.
> `TRE_WCHAR`
>   This is defined if wide character support is enabled. The prototypes for wide character matching functions are defined only if `TRE_WCHAR` is defined.
> `TRE_MULTIBYTE`
>   This is defined if multibyte character set support is enabled. If this is not set any locale settings are ignored, and the default locale is used when parsing regexps and matching strings.