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   pcretest    ( 1 )

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OUTPUT FROM THE ALTERNATIVE MATCHING FUNCTION

When the alternative matching function, pcre[16|32]_dfa_exec(), is used (by means of the \D escape sequence or the -dfa command line option), the output consists of a list of all the matches that start at the first point in the subject where there is at least one match. For example:

re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/ data> yellow tangerine\D 0: tangerine 1: tang 2: tan

(Using the normal matching function on this data finds only "tang".) The longest matching string is always given first (and numbered zero). After a PCRE_ERROR_PARTIAL return, the output is "Partial match:", followed by the partially matching substring. (Note that this is the entire substring that was inspected during the partial match; it may include characters before the actual match start if a lookbehind assertion, \K, \b, or \B was involved.)

If /g is present on the pattern, the search for further matches resumes at the end of the longest match. For example:

re> /(tang|tangerine|tan)/g data> yellow tangerine and tangy sultana\D 0: tangerine 1: tang 2: tan 0: tang 1: tan 0: tan

Since the matching function does not support substring capture, the escape sequences that are concerned with captured substrings are not relevant.