Using the standard algorithm for regular expression matching only
the longest match in the string is retrieved, it is not possible
to obtain all the available matches. For instance matching
"<a> <b> <c>" against the pattern "<.*>"
you get "<a> <b> <c>".
This function uses a different algorithm (called DFA, i.e. deterministic
finite automaton), so it can retrieve all the possible matches, all
starting at the same point in the string. For instance matching
"<a> <b> <c>" against the pattern "<.*>;"
you would obtain three matches: "<a> <b> <c>",
"<a> <b>" and "<a>".
The number of matched strings is retrieved using
MatchInfo.getMatchCount. To obtain the matched strings and
their position you can use, respectively, MatchInfo.fetch and
MatchInfo.fetchPos. Note that the strings are returned in
reverse order of length; that is, the longest matching string is
given first.
Note that the DFA algorithm is slower than the standard one and it
is not able to capture substrings, so backreferences do not work.
Setting start_position differs from just passing over a shortened
string and setting G_REGEX_MATCH_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern
that begins with any kind of lookbehind assertion, such as "\b".
Unless G_REGEX_RAW is specified in the options, string must be valid UTF-8.
A glib.MatchInfo structure, used to get information on the match, is
stored in match_info if not NULL. Note that if match_info is
not NULL then it is created even if the function returns FALSE,
i.e. you must free it regardless if regular expression actually
matched.
string is not copied and is used in glib.MatchInfo internally. If
you use any glib.MatchInfo method (except MatchInfo.free) after
freeing or modifying string then the behaviour is undefined.
Using the standard algorithm for regular expression matching only the longest match in the string is retrieved, it is not possible to obtain all the available matches. For instance matching "<a> <b> <c>" against the pattern "<.*>" you get "<a> <b> <c>".
This function uses a different algorithm (called DFA, i.e. deterministic finite automaton), so it can retrieve all the possible matches, all starting at the same point in the string. For instance matching "<a> <b> <c>" against the pattern "<.*>;" you would obtain three matches: "<a> <b> <c>", "<a> <b>" and "<a>".
The number of matched strings is retrieved using MatchInfo.getMatchCount. To obtain the matched strings and their position you can use, respectively, MatchInfo.fetch and MatchInfo.fetchPos. Note that the strings are returned in reverse order of length; that is, the longest matching string is given first.
Note that the DFA algorithm is slower than the standard one and it is not able to capture substrings, so backreferences do not work.
Setting start_position differs from just passing over a shortened string and setting G_REGEX_MATCH_NOTBOL in the case of a pattern that begins with any kind of lookbehind assertion, such as "\b".
Unless G_REGEX_RAW is specified in the options, string must be valid UTF-8.
A glib.MatchInfo structure, used to get information on the match, is stored in match_info if not NULL. Note that if match_info is not NULL then it is created even if the function returns FALSE, i.e. you must free it regardless if regular expression actually matched.
string is not copied and is used in glib.MatchInfo internally. If you use any glib.MatchInfo method (except MatchInfo.free) after freeing or modifying string then the behaviour is undefined.