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<title>pcre2_match specification</title>
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<h1>pcre2_match man page</h1>
<p>
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<p>
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<br>
<br><b>
SYNOPSIS
</b><br>
<P>
<b>#include &#60;pcre2.h&#62;</b>
</P>
<P>
<b>int pcre2_match(const pcre2_code *<i>code</i>, PCRE2_SPTR <i>subject</i>,</b>
<b>  PCRE2_SIZE <i>length</i>, PCRE2_SIZE <i>startoffset</i>,</b>
<b>  uint32_t <i>options</i>, pcre2_match_data *<i>match_data</i>,</b>
<b>  pcre2_match_context *<i>mcontext</i>);</b>
</P>
<br><b>
DESCRIPTION
</b><br>
<P>
This function matches a compiled regular expression against a given subject
string, using a matching algorithm that is similar to Perl's. It returns
offsets to what it has matched and to captured substrings via the
<b>match_data</b> block, which can be processed by functions with names that
start with <b>pcre2_get_ovector_...()</b> or <b>pcre2_substring_...()</b>. The
return from <b>pcre2_match()</b> is one more than the highest numbered capturing
pair that has been set (for example, 1 if there are no captures), zero if the
vector of offsets is too small, or a negative error code for no match and other
errors. The function arguments are:
<pre>
  <i>code</i>         Points to the compiled pattern
  <i>subject</i>      Points to the subject string
  <i>length</i>       Length of the subject string
  <i>startoffset</i>  Offset in the subject at which to start matching
  <i>options</i>      Option bits
  <i>match_data</i>   Points to a match data block, for results
  <i>mcontext</i>     Points to a match context, or is NULL
</pre>
A match context is needed only if you want to:
<pre>
  Set up a callout function
  Set a matching offset limit
  Change the heap memory limit
  Change the backtracking match limit
  Change the backtracking depth limit
  Set custom memory management specifically for the match
</pre>
The <i>length</i> and <i>startoffset</i> values are code
units, not characters. The length may be given as PCRE2_ZERO_TERMINATE for a
subject that is terminated by a binary zero code unit. The options are:
<pre>
  PCRE2_ANCHORED          Match only at the first position
  PCRE2_ENDANCHORED       Pattern can match only at end of subject
  PCRE2_NOTBOL            Subject string is not the beginning of a line
  PCRE2_NOTEOL            Subject string is not the end of a line
  PCRE2_NOTEMPTY          An empty string is not a valid match
  PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART  An empty string at the start of the subject is not a valid match
  PCRE2_NO_JIT            Do not use JIT matching
  PCRE2_NO_UTF_CHECK      Do not check the subject for UTF validity (only relevant if PCRE2_UTF
                           was set at compile time)
  PCRE2_PARTIAL_HARD      Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match even if there is a full match
  PCRE2_PARTIAL_SOFT      Return PCRE2_ERROR_PARTIAL for a partial match if no full matches are found
</pre>
For details of partial matching, see the
<a href="pcre2partial.html"><b>pcre2partial</b></a>
page. There is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the
<a href="pcre2api.html"><b>pcre2api</b></a>
page and a description of the POSIX API in the
<a href="pcre2posix.html"><b>pcre2posix</b></a>
page.
<p>
Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>.
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