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   pcretest    ( 1 )

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THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION

By default, pcretest uses the standard PCRE matching function,
       pcre[16|32]_exec() to match each data line. PCRE also supports an
       alternative matching function, pcre[16|32]_dfa_test(), which
       operates in a different way, and has some restrictions. The
       differences between the two functions are described in the
       pcrematching documentation.

       If a data line contains the \D escape sequence, or if the command
       line contains the -dfa option, the alternative matching function
       is used.  This function finds all possible matches at a given
       point. If, however, the \F escape sequence is present in the data
       line, it stops after the first match is found. This is always the
       shortest possible match.