PCRE2SYNTAX(3) Introduction to Library Functions PCRE2SYNTAX(3)

NAME

PCRE2 - Perl-compatible regular expressions (revised API)

PCRE2 REGULAR EXPRESSION SYNTAX SUMMARY
The full syntax and semantics of the regular expression patterns that
are supported by PCRE2 are described in the pcre2pattern
documentation. This document contains a quick-reference summary of
the pattern syntax followed by the syntax of replacement strings in
substitution function. The full description of the latter is in the
pcre2api documentation.

QUOTING

\x where x is non-alphanumeric is a literal x
\Q...\E treat enclosed characters as literal

Note that white space inside \Q...\E is always treated as literal,
even if PCRE2_EXTENDED is set, causing most other white space to be
ignored. Note also that PCRE2's handling of \Q...\E has some
differences from Perl's. See the pcre2pattern documentation for
details.

BRACED ITEMS

With one exception, wherever brace characters { and } are required to
enclose data for constructions such as \g{2} or \k{name}, space
and/or horizontal tab characters that follow { or precede } are
allowed and are ignored. In the case of quantifiers, they may also
appear before or after the comma. The exception is \u{...} which is
not Perl-compatible and is recognized only when PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX
is set. This is an ECMAScript compatibility feature, and follows
ECMAScript's behaviour.

ESCAPED CHARACTERS

This table applies to ASCII and Unicode environments. An unrecognized
escape sequence causes an error.

\a alarm, that is, the BEL character (hex 07)
\cx "control-x", where x is a non-control ASCII character
\e escape (hex 1B)
\f form feed (hex 0C)
\n newline (hex 0A)
\r carriage return (hex 0D)
\t tab (hex 09)
\0dd character with octal code 0dd
\ddd character with octal code ddd, or backreference
\o{ddd..} character with octal code ddd..
\N{U+hh..} character with Unicode code point hh.. (Unicode mode
only)
\xhh character with hex code hh
\x{hh..} character with hex code hh..

\N{U+hh..} is synonymous with \x{hh..} but is not supported in
environments that use EBCDIC code (mainly IBM mainframes). Note that
\N not followed by an opening curly bracket has a different meaning
(see below).

If PCRE2_ALT_BSUX or PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX is set ("ALT_BSUX mode"),
the following are also recognized:

\U the character "U"
\uhhhh character with hex code hhhh
\u{hh..} character with hex code hh.. but only for EXTRA_ALT_BSUX

When \x is not followed by {, one or two hexadecimal digits are read,
but in ALT_BSUX mode \x must be followed by two hexadecimal digits to
be recognized as a hexadecimal escape; otherwise it matches a literal
"x". Likewise, if \u (in ALT_BSUX mode) is not followed by four
hexadecimal digits or (in EXTRA_ALT_BSUX mode) a sequence of hex
digits in curly brackets, it matches a literal "u".

Note that \0dd is always an octal code. The treatment of backslash
followed by a non-zero digit is complicated; for details see the
section "Non-printing characters" in the pcre2pattern documentation,
where details of escape processing in EBCDIC environments are also
given.

CHARACTER TYPES

. any character except newline;
in dotall mode, any character whatsoever
\C one code unit, even in UTF mode (best avoided)
\d a decimal digit
\D a character that is not a decimal digit
\h a horizontal white space character
\H a character that is not a horizontal white space
character
\N a character that is not a newline
\p{xx} a character with the xx property
\P{xx} a character without the xx property
\R a newline sequence
\s a white space character
\S a character that is not a white space character
\v a vertical white space character
\V a character that is not a vertical white space character
\w a "word" character
\W a "non-word" character
\X a Unicode extended grapheme cluster

\C is dangerous because it may leave the current matching point in
the middle of a UTF-8 or UTF-16 character. The application can lock
out the use of \C by setting the PCRE2_NEVER_BACKSLASH_C option. It
is also possible to build PCRE2 with the use of \C permanently
disabled.

By default, \d, \s, and \w match only ASCII characters, even in UTF-8
mode or in the 16-bit and 32-bit libraries. However, if locale-
specific matching is happening, \s and \w may also match characters
with code points in the range 128-255. If the PCRE2_UCP option is
set, the behaviour of these escape sequences is changed to use
Unicode properties and they match many more characters, but there are
some option settings that can restrict individual sequences to
matching only ASCII characters.

Property descriptions in \p and \P are matched caselessly; hyphens,
underscores, and ASCII white space characters are ignored, in
accordance with Unicode's "loose matching" rules. For example,
\p{Bidi_Class=al} is the same as \p{ bidi class = AL }.

GENERAL CATEGORY PROPERTIES FOR \p and \P
C Other
Cc Control
Cf Format
Cn Unassigned
Co Private use
Cs Surrogate

L Letter
Lc Cased letter, the union of Ll, Lu, and Lt
L& Synonym of Lc
Ll Lower case letter
Lm Modifier letter
Lo Other letter
Lt Title case letter
Lu Upper case letter

M Mark
Mc Spacing mark
Me Enclosing mark
Mn Non-spacing mark

N Number
Nd Decimal number
Nl Letter number
No Other number

P Punctuation
Pc Connector punctuation
Pd Dash punctuation
Pe Close punctuation
Pf Final punctuation
Pi Initial punctuation
Po Other punctuation
Ps Open punctuation

S Symbol
Sc Currency symbol
Sk Modifier symbol
Sm Mathematical symbol
So Other symbol

Z Separator
Zl Line separator
Zp Paragraph separator
Zs Space separator

From release 10.45, when caseless matching is set, Ll, Lu, and Lt are
all equivalent to Lc.

PCRE2 SPECIAL CATEGORY PROPERTIES FOR \p and \P
Xan Alphanumeric: union of properties L and N
Xps POSIX space: property Z or tab, NL, VT, FF, CR
Xsp Perl space: property Z or tab, NL, VT, FF, CR
Xuc Universally-named character: one that can be
represented by a Universal Character Name
Xwd Perl word: property Xan or underscore

Perl and POSIX space are now the same. Perl added VT to its space
character set at release 5.18.

BINARY PROPERTIES FOR \p AND \P
Unicode defines a number of binary properties, that is, properties
whose only values are true or false. You can obtain a list of those
that are recognized by \p and \P, along with their abbreviations, by
running this command:

pcre2test -LP

SCRIPT MATCHING WITH \p AND \P
Many script names and their 4-letter abbreviations are recognized in
\p{sc:...} or \p{scx:...} items, or on their own with \p (and also \P
of course). You can obtain a list of these scripts by running this
command:

pcre2test -LS

THE BIDI_CLASS PROPERTY FOR \p AND \P
\p{Bidi_Class:<class>} matches a character with the given class
\p{BC:<class>} matches a character with the given class

The recognized classes are:

AL Arabic letter
AN Arabic number
B paragraph separator
BN boundary neutral
CS common separator
EN European number
ES European separator
ET European terminator
FSI first strong isolate
L left-to-right
LRE left-to-right embedding
LRI left-to-right isolate
LRO left-to-right override
NSM non-spacing mark
ON other neutral
PDF pop directional format
PDI pop directional isolate
R right-to-left
RLE right-to-left embedding
RLI right-to-left isolate
RLO right-to-left override
S segment separator
WS white space

CHARACTER CLASSES

[...] positive character class
[^...] negative character class
[x-y] range (can be used for hex characters)
[[:xxx:]] positive POSIX named set
[[:^xxx:]] negative POSIX named set

alnum alphanumeric
alpha alphabetic
ascii 0-127
blank space or tab
cntrl control character
digit decimal digit
graph printing, excluding space
lower lower case letter
print printing, including space
punct printing, excluding alphanumeric
space white space
upper upper case letter
word same as \w
xdigit hexadecimal digit

In PCRE2, POSIX character set names recognize only ASCII characters
by default, but some of them use Unicode properties if PCRE2_UCP is
set. You can use \Q...\E inside a character class.

When PCRE2_ALT_EXTENDED_CLASS is set, UTS#18 extended character
classes may be used, allowing nested character classes, combined
using set operators.

[x&&[^y]] UTS#18 extended character class

x||y set union (OR)
x&&y set intersection (AND)
x--y set difference (AND NOT)
x~~y set symmetric difference (XOR)

PERL EXTENDED CHARACTER CLASSES

(?[...]) Perl extended character class
(?[\p{Thai} & \p{Nd}]) operators; whitespace ignored
(?[(x - y) & z]) parentheses for grouping

(?[ [^3] & \p{Nd} ]) [...] is a nested ordinary class
(?[ [:alpha:] - [z] ]) POSIX set is allowed outside [...]
(?[ \d - [3] ]) backslash-escaped set is allowed outside
[...]
(?[ !\n & [:ascii:] ]) backslash-escaped character is allowed
outside [...]
all other characters or ranges must be enclosed
in [...]

x|y, x+y set union (OR)
x&y set intersection (AND)
x-y set difference (AND NOT)
x^y set symmetric difference (XOR)
!x set complement (NOT)

Inside a Perl extended character class, [...] switches mode to be
interpreted as an ordinary character class. Outside of a nested
[...], the only items permitted are backslash-escapes, POSIX sets,
operators, and parentheses. Inside a nested ordinary class, ^ has its
usual meaning (inverts the class when used as the first character);
outside of a nested class, ^ is the XOR operator.

QUANTIFIERS

? 0 or 1, greedy
?+ 0 or 1, possessive
?? 0 or 1, lazy
* 0 or more, greedy
*+ 0 or more, possessive
*? 0 or more, lazy
+ 1 or more, greedy
++ 1 or more, possessive
+? 1 or more, lazy
{n} exactly n
{n,m} at least n, no more than m, greedy
{n,m}+ at least n, no more than m, possessive
{n,m}? at least n, no more than m, lazy
{n,} n or more, greedy
{n,}+ n or more, possessive
{n,}? n or more, lazy
{,m} zero up to m, greedy
{,m}+ zero up to m, possessive
{,m}? zero up to m, lazy

ANCHORS AND SIMPLE ASSERTIONS

\b word boundary
\B not a word boundary
^ start of subject
also after an internal newline in multiline mode
(after any newline if PCRE2_ALT_CIRCUMFLEX is set)
\A start of subject
$ end of subject
also before newline at end of subject
also before internal newline in multiline mode
\Z end of subject
also before newline at end of subject
\z end of subject
\G first matching position in subject

REPORTED MATCH POINT SETTING

\K set reported start of match

From release 10.38 \K is not permitted by default in lookaround
assertions, for compatibility with Perl. However, if the
PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK option is set, the previous
behaviour is re-enabled. When this option is set, \K is honoured in
positive assertions, but ignored in negative ones.

ALTERNATION

expr|expr|expr...

CAPTURING

(...) capture group
(?<name>...) named capture group (Perl)
(?'name'...) named capture group (Perl)
(?P<name>...) named capture group (Python)
(?:...) non-capture group
(?|...) non-capture group; reset group numbers for
capture groups in each alternative

In non-UTF modes, names may contain underscores and ASCII letters and
digits; in UTF modes, any Unicode letters and Unicode decimal digits
are permitted. In both cases, a name must not start with a digit.

ATOMIC GROUPS

(?>...) atomic non-capture group
(*atomic:...) atomic non-capture group

COMMENT

(?#....) comment (not nestable)

OPTION SETTING

Changes of these options within a group are automatically cancelled
at the end of the group.

(?a) all ASCII options
(?aD) restrict \d to ASCII in UCP mode
(?aS) restrict \s to ASCII in UCP mode
(?aW) restrict \w to ASCII in UCP mode
(?aP) restrict all POSIX classes to ASCII in UCP mode
(?aT) restrict POSIX digit classes to ASCII in UCP mode
(?i) caseless
(?J) allow duplicate named groups
(?m) multiline
(?n) no auto capture
(?r) restrict caseless to either ASCII or non-ASCII
(?s) single line (dotall)
(?U) default ungreedy (lazy)
(?x) ignore white space except in classes or \Q...\E
(?xx) as (?x) but also ignore space and tab in classes
(?-...) unset the given option(s)
(?^) unset imnrsx options

(?aP) implies (?aT) as well, though this has no additional effect.
However, it means that (?-aP) also implies (?-aT) and disables all
ASCII restrictions for POSIX classes.

Unsetting x or xx unsets both. Several options may be set at once,
and a mixture of setting and unsetting such as (?i-x) is allowed, but
there may be only one hyphen. Setting (but no unsetting) is allowed
after (?^ for example (?^in). An option setting may appear at the
start of a non-capture group, for example (?i:...).

The following are recognized only at the very start of a pattern or
after one of the newline or \R sequences or options with similar
syntax. More than one of them may appear. For the first three, d is a
decimal number.

(*LIMIT_DEPTH=d) set the backtracking limit to d
(*LIMIT_HEAP=d) set the heap size limit to d * 1024 bytes
(*LIMIT_MATCH=d) set the match limit to d
(*CASELESS_RESTRICT) set PCRE2_EXTRA_CASELESS_RESTRICT when
matching
(*NOTEMPTY) set PCRE2_NOTEMPTY when matching
(*NOTEMPTY_ATSTART) set PCRE2_NOTEMPTY_ATSTART when matching
(*NO_AUTO_POSSESS) no auto-possessification
(PCRE2_NO_AUTO_POSSESS)
(*NO_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR) no .* anchoring (PCRE2_NO_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR)
(*NO_JIT) disable JIT optimization
(*NO_START_OPT) no start-match optimization
(PCRE2_NO_START_OPTIMIZE)
(*TURKISH_CASING) set PCRE2_EXTRA_TURKISH_CASING when matching
(*UTF) set appropriate UTF mode for the library in
use
(*UCP) set PCRE2_UCP (use Unicode properties for \d
etc)

Note that LIMIT_DEPTH, LIMIT_HEAP, and LIMIT_MATCH can only reduce
the value of the limits set by the caller of pcre2_match() or
pcre2_dfa_match(), not increase them. LIMIT_RECURSION is an obsolete
synonym for LIMIT_DEPTH. The application can lock out the use of
(*UTF) and (*UCP) by setting the PCRE2_NEVER_UTF or PCRE2_NEVER_UCP
options, respectively, at compile time.

NEWLINE CONVENTION

These are recognized only at the very start of the pattern or after
option settings with a similar syntax.

(*CR) carriage return only
(*LF) linefeed only
(*CRLF) carriage return followed by linefeed
(*ANYCRLF) all three of the above
(*ANY) any Unicode newline sequence
(*NUL) the NUL character (binary zero)

WHAT \R MATCHES
These are recognized only at the very start of the pattern or after
option setting with a similar syntax.

(*BSR_ANYCRLF) CR, LF, or CRLF
(*BSR_UNICODE) any Unicode newline sequence

LOOKAHEAD AND LOOKBEHIND ASSERTIONS

(?=...) )
(*pla:...) ) positive lookahead
(*positive_lookahead:...) )

(?!...) )
(*nla:...) ) negative lookahead
(*negative_lookahead:...) )

(?<=...) )
(*plb:...) ) positive lookbehind
(*positive_lookbehind:...) )

(?<!...) )
(*nlb:...) ) negative lookbehind
(*negative_lookbehind:...) )

Each top-level branch of a lookbehind must have a limit for the
number of characters it matches. If any branch can match a variable
number of characters, the maximum for each branch is limited to a
value set by the caller of pcre2_compile() or defaulted. The default
is set when PCRE2 is built (ultimate default 255). If every branch
matches a fixed number of characters, the limit for each branch is
65535 characters.

NON-ATOMIC LOOKAROUND ASSERTIONS
These assertions are specific to PCRE2 and are not Perl-compatible.

(?*...) )
(*napla:...) ) synonyms
(*non_atomic_positive_lookahead:...) )

(?<*...) )
(*naplb:...) ) synonyms
(*non_atomic_positive_lookbehind:...) )

SUBSTRING SCAN ASSERTION

This feature is not Perl-compatible.

(*scan_substring:(grouplist)...) scan captured substring
(*scs:(grouplist)...) scan captured substring

The comma-separated list may identify groups in any of the following
ways:

n absolute reference
+n relative reference
-n relative reference
<name> name
'name' name

SCRIPT RUNS

(*script_run:...) ) script run, can be backtracked into
(*sr:...) )

(*atomic_script_run:...) ) atomic script run
(*asr:...) )

BACKREFERENCES

\n reference by number (can be ambiguous)
\gn reference by number
\g{n} reference by number
\g+n relative reference by number (PCRE2 extension)
\g-n relative reference by number
\g{+n} relative reference by number (PCRE2 extension)
\g{-n} relative reference by number
\k<name> reference by name (Perl)
\k'name' reference by name (Perl)
\g{name} reference by name (Perl)
\k{name} reference by name (.NET)
(?P=name) reference by name (Python)

SUBROUTINE REFERENCES (POSSIBLY RECURSIVE)
(?R) recurse whole pattern
(?n) call subroutine by absolute number
(?+n) call subroutine by relative number
(?-n) call subroutine by relative number
(?&name) call subroutine by name (Perl)
(?P>name) call subroutine by name (Python)
\g<name> call subroutine by name (Oniguruma)
\g'name' call subroutine by name (Oniguruma)
\g<n> call subroutine by absolute number (Oniguruma)
\g'n' call subroutine by absolute number (Oniguruma)
\g<+n> call subroutine by relative number (PCRE2
extension)
\g'+n' call subroutine by relative number (PCRE2
extension)
\g<-n> call subroutine by relative number (PCRE2
extension)
\g'-n' call subroutine by relative number (PCRE2
extension)

CONDITIONAL PATTERNS

(?(condition)yes-pattern)
(?(condition)yes-pattern|no-pattern)

(?(n) absolute reference condition
(?(+n) relative reference condition (PCRE2 extension)
(?(-n) relative reference condition (PCRE2 extension)
(?(<name>) named reference condition (Perl)
(?('name') named reference condition (Perl)
(?(name) named reference condition (PCRE2, deprecated)
(?(R) overall recursion condition
(?(Rn) specific numbered group recursion condition
(?(R&name) specific named group recursion condition
(?(DEFINE) define groups for reference
(?(VERSION[>]=n.m) test PCRE2 version
(?(assert) assertion condition

Note the ambiguity of (?(R) and (?(Rn) which might be named reference
conditions or recursion tests. Such a condition is interpreted as a
reference condition if the relevant named group exists.

BACKTRACKING CONTROL

All backtracking control verbs may be in the form (*VERB:NAME). For
(*MARK) the name is mandatory, for the others it is optional. (*SKIP)
changes its behaviour if :NAME is present. The others just set a name
for passing back to the caller, but this is not a name that (*SKIP)
can see. The following act immediately they are reached:

(*ACCEPT) force successful match
(*FAIL) force backtrack; synonym (*F)
(*MARK:NAME) set name to be passed back; synonym (*:NAME)

The following act only when a subsequent match failure causes a
backtrack to reach them. They all force a match failure, but they
differ in what happens afterwards. Those that advance the start-of-
match point do so only if the pattern is not anchored.

(*COMMIT) overall failure, no advance of starting point
(*PRUNE) advance to next starting character
(*SKIP) advance to current matching position
(*SKIP:NAME) advance to position corresponding to an earlier
(*MARK:NAME); if not found, the (*SKIP) is ignored
(*THEN) local failure, backtrack to next alternation

The effect of one of these verbs in a group called as a subroutine is
confined to the subroutine call.

CALLOUTS

(?C) callout (assumed number 0)
(?Cn) callout with numerical data n
(?C"text") callout with string data

The allowed string delimiters are ` ' " ^ % # $ (which are the same
for the start and the end), and the starting delimiter { matched with
the ending delimiter }. To encode the ending delimiter within the
string, double it.

REPLACEMENT STRINGS

If the PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_LITERAL option is set, a replacement string
for pcre2_substitute() is not interpreted. Otherwise, by default, the
only special character is the dollar character in one of the
following forms:

$$ insert a dollar character
$n or ${n} insert the contents of group n
$<name> insert the contents of named group
$0 or $& insert the entire matched substring
$` insert the substring that precedes the match
$' insert the substring that follows the match
$_ insert the entire input string
$*MARK or ${*MARK} insert a control verb name

For ${n}, n can be a name or a number. If PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED
is set, there is additional interpretation:

1. Backslash is an escape character, and the forms described in
"ESCAPED CHARACTERS" above are recognized. Also:

\Q...\E can be used to suppress interpretation
\l force the next character to lower case
\u force the next character to upper case
\L force subsequent characters to lower case
\U force subsequent characters to upper case
\u\L force next character to upper case, then all lower
\l\U force next character to lower case, then all upper
\E end \L or \U case forcing
\b backspace character (note: as in character class in
pattern)
\v vertical tab character (note: not the same as in a
pattern)

2. The Python form \g<n>, where the angle brackets are part of the
syntax and n is either a group name or a number, is recognized as an
alternative way of inserting the contents of a group, for example
\g<3>.

3. Capture substitution supports the following additional forms:

${n:-string} default for unset group
${n:+string1:string2} values for set/unset group

The substitution strings themselves are expanded. Backslash can be
used to escape colons and closing curly brackets.

SEE ALSO

pcre2pattern(3), pcre2api(3), pcre2callout(3), pcre2matching(3),
pcre2(3).

AUTHOR

Philip Hazel
Retired from University Computing Service
Cambridge, England.

REVISION

Last updated: 27 November 2024
Copyright (c) 1997-2024 University of Cambridge.

PCRE2 10.45 27 November 2024 PCRE2SYNTAX(3)