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Chapter 10
Regular Expressions

MzScheme provides built-in support for regular expression pattern matching on strings, byte strings, and input ports.23 Regular expressions are specified as strings or byte strings, using the same pattern language as the Unix utility `egrep`. A string-specified pattern produces a character regexp matcher, and a byte-string pattern produces a byte regexp matcher. If a character regexp is used with a byte string or input port, it matches UTF-8 encodings (see section 1.2.3) of matching character streams; if a byte regexp is used with a character string, it matches bytes in the UTF-8 encoding of the string.

String-based regular expressions can be compiled into a regexp value for repeated matches. The internal size of a regexp value is limited to 32 kilobytes; this limit roughly corresponds to a source string with 32,000 literal characters or 5,000 special characters.

The `pregexp.ss` library of MzLib (see Chapter 34 in PLT MzLib: Libraries Manual) provides a similar -- but more powerful -- form of matching.

`

`Regexp``::=` `Pieces``` Match `Pieces```
`|` `Regexp`|`Regexp``` Match either `Regexp`, try left first``
`Pieces``::=` `Piece``` Match `Piece```
`|` `Piece``Pieces``` Match first `Piece` followed by second `Pieces```
`Piece``::=` `Atom`*`` Match `Atom` 0 or more times, longest possible``
`|` `Atom`+`` Match `Atom` 1 or more times, longest possible``
`|` `Atom`?`` Match `Atom` 0 or 1 times, longest possible``
`|` `Atom`*?`` Match `Atom` 0 or more times, shortest possible``
`|` `Atom`+?`` Match `Atom` 1 or more times, shortest possible``
`|` `Atom`??`` Match `Atom` 0 or 1 times, shortest possible``
`|` `Atom``` Match `Atom` exactly once``
`Atom``::=` `(``Regexp``)``` Match sub-expression `Regexp` and report match``
`|` `(`?:`Regexp``)``` Match sub-expression `Regexp```
`|` `[``Range``]``` Match any character in `Range```
`|` `[``^``Range``]``` Match any character not in `Range```
`|` `.``` Match any character``
`|` `^``` Match start of string``
`|` $`` Match end of string``
`|` `Literal``` Match a single literal character``
`Literal``::=` Any character except (, ), *, +, ?, [, ], ., `^`, \, or |``
`|` \`Aliteral``` Match `Aliteral```
`Aliteral``::=` Any character``
`Range``::=` `]``` `Range` contains ] only``
`|` -`` `Range` contains - only``
`|` `]``Lrange``` `Range` contains ] and everything in `Lrange```
`|` -`Lrange``` `Range` contains - and everything in `Lrange```
`|` `Lrange`-`` `Range` contains - and everything in `Lrange```
`|` `]``Lrange`-`` `Range` contains ], -, and everything in `Lrange```
`|` `Lrange``` `Range` contains everything in `Lrange```
`Lrange``::=` `Rliteral``` `Range` contains a literal character``
`|` `Rliteral`-`Rliteral``` `Range` contains ASCII range inclusive``
`|` `Lrange``Lrange``` `Range` contains everything in both``
`Rliteral``::=` Any character except ] or -``

`

Figure 1: Grammar for regular expressions

The format of a regular expression is specified by the grammar in Figure 1. If a byte string is used to express a grammar, its bytes are interpreted as Latin-1 encodings of characters (see section 1.2.3), and the resulting regexp ``matches a character'' by matching a byte whose Latin-1 decoding is the character.

A few subtle points about the regexp language are worth noting:

- When an opening square bracket (``['') that starts a range is immediately followed by a closing square bracket (``]''), then the closing square bracket is part of the range, instead of ending an empty range. For example, `"[]a]"` matches any string that contains a lowercase ``a'' or a closing square bracket. A dash (``-'') at the start or end of a range is treated specially in the same way.

- When a caret (```^`'') or dollar sign (``$'') appears in the middle of a regular expression (not in a range), the resulting regexp is legal even though it is usually not matchable. For example, `"a$b"` is unmatchable, because no string can contain the letter ``b'' after the end of the string. In contrast, `"a$b*"` matches any string that ends with a lowercase ``a'', since zero ``b''s will match the part of the regexp after ``$''.

- A backslash (```\`'') in a regexp pattern specified with a Scheme string literal must be protected with an additional backslash. For example, the string `"\\."` describes a pattern that matches any string containing a period. In this case, the first backslash protects the second to generate a Scheme string containing two characters; the second backslash (which is the first slash in the actual string value) protects the period in the regexp pattern.

The regular expression procedures are as follows:

- `(regexp``` `string``)` takes a string representation of a regular expression and compiles it into a regexp value. Other regular expression procedures accept either a string or a regexp value as the matching pattern. If a regular expression string is used multiple times, it is faster to compile the string once to a regexp value and use it for repeated matches instead of using the string each time.

  The ``object-name`` procedure (see section 6.2.4) returns the source string for a regexp value.

- `(regexp?``` `v``)` returns `#t` if `v` is a regexp value created by ``regexp``, `#f` otherwise.

- `(byte-regexp``` `bytes``)` takes a byte-string representation of a regular expression and compiles it into a byte-regexp value. The ``object-name`` procedure (see section 6.2.4) returns the source byte string for a regexp value.

- `(byte-regexp?``` `v``)` returns `#t` if `v` is a regexp value created by `byte-regexp`, `#f` otherwise.

- `(regexp-match``` `pattern string``` [`start-k end-k output-port`]`)` attempts to match `pattern` (a string, byte string, regexp value, or byte-regexp value) once to a portion of `string`; see below for information on using a byte string or input port in place of `string`.

  The optional `start-k` and `end-k` arguments select a substring of `string` for matching, and the default is the entire string. The `end-k` argument can be `#f`, which is the same as not supplying `end-k`. The matcher finds a portion of `string` that matches `pattern` and is closest to the start of the selected substring.

  If the match fails, `#f` is returned. If the match succeeds, a list containing strings, and possibly `#f`, is returned. The list contains byte strings (substrings of the UTF-8 encoding of `string`) if `pattern` is a byte string or a byte regexp value.

  The first [byte] string in a result list is the portion of `string` that matched `pattern`. If two portions of `string` can match `pattern`, then the match that starts earliest is found.

  Additional [byte] strings are returned in the list if `pattern` contains parenthesized sub-expressions (but not when the open parenthesis is followed by ``?:''). Matches for the sub-expressions are provided in the order of the opening parentheses in `pattern`. When sub-expressions occur in branches of an ``or'' (``|''), in a ``zero or more'' pattern (``*''), or in a ``zero or one'' pattern (``?''), a `#f` is returned for the expression if it did not contribute to the final match. When a single sub-expression occurs in a ``zero or more'' pattern (``*'') or a ``one or more'' pattern (``+'') and is used multiple times in a match, then the rightmost match associated with the sub-expression is returned in the list.

  If the optional `output-port` is provided, the part of `string` that precedes the match is written to the port. All of `string` up to `end-k` is written to the port if no match is found. This functionality is not especially useful, but it is provided for consistency with ``regexp-match`` on input ports. The `output-port` argument can be `#f`, which is the same as not supplying it.

- `(regexp-match``` `pattern bytes``` [`start-k end-k output-port`]`)` is analogous to ``regexp-match`` with a string (see above). The result is always a list of byte strings and `#f`, even if `pattern` is a character string or a character regexp value.

- `(regexp-match``` `pattern input-port``` [`start-k end-k output-port`]`)` is similar to ``regexp-match`` with a byte string (see above), except that the match is found in the stream of bytes produced by `input-port`. The optional `start-k` argument indicates the number of bytes to skip before matching `pattern`, and `end-k` indicates the maximum number of bytes to consider (including skipped bytes). The `end-k` argument can be `#f`, which is the same as not supplying `end-k`. The default is to skip no bytes and read until the end-of-file if necessary. If the end-of-file is reached before `start-k` bytes are skipped, the match fails.

  In `pattern`, a start-of-string caret (```^`'') refers to the first read position after skipping, and the end-of-string dollar sign (``$'') refers to the `end-k`th read byte or the end of file, whichever comes first.

  The optional `output-port` receives all bytes that precede a match in the input port, or up to `end-k` bytes (by default the entire stream) if no match is found. The `output-port` argument can be `#f`, which is the same as not supplying it.

  When matching an input port stream, a match failure reads up to `end-k` bytes (or end-of-file), even if `pattern` begins with a start-of-string caret (```^`''); see also `regexp-match/fail-without-reading` in Chapter 42 in PLT MzLib: Libraries Manual. On success, all bytes up to and including the match are eventually read from the port, but matching proceeds by first peeking bytes from the port (using ``peek-bytes-avail!``; see section 11.2.1), and then (re-)reading matching bytes to discard them after the match result is determined. Non-matching bytes may be read and discarded before the match is determined. The matcher peeks in blocking mode only as far as necessary to determine a match, but it may peek extra bytes to fill an internal buffer if immediately available (i.e., without blocking). Greedy repeat operators in `pattern`, such as ``*'' or ``+'', tend to force reading the entire content of the port (up to `end-k`) to determine a match.

  If the port is read simultaneously by another thread, or if the port is a custom port with inconsistent reading and peeking procedures (see section 11.1.7), then the bytes that are peeked and used for matching may be different than the bytes read and discarded after the match completes; the matcher inspects only the peeked bytes. To avoid such interleaving, use `regexp-match-peek` (with a `progress-evt` argument) followed by `port-commit-peeked`.

- `(regexp-match-positions``` `pattern string/bytes/input-port``` [`start-k end-k output-port`]`)` is like ``regexp-match``, but returns a list of number pairs (and `#f`) instead of a list of strings. Each pair of numbers refers to a range of characters or bytes in `string/bytes/input-port`. If the result for the same arguments with `regexp-match` would be a list of byte strings, the resulting ranges correspond to byte ranges; in that case, if `string/bytes/input-port` is a character string, the byte ranges correspond to bytes in the UTF-8 encoding of the string.

  Range results are returned in a ``substring``- and `subbytpe`-compatible manner, independent of `start-k`. In the case of an input port, the returned positions indicate the number of bytes that were read, including `start-k`, before the first matching byte.

- `(regexp-match-peek``` `pattern input-port``` [`start-k end-k progress-evt`]`)` is like ``regexp-match`` on input ports, but only peeks bytes from `input-port` instead of reading them. Furthermore, instead of an output port, the last optional argument is a progress event for `input-port` (see section 11.2.1). If `progress-evt` becomes ready, then the match stops peeking from `input-port` and returns `#f`. The `progress-evt` argument can be `#f`, in which case the peek may continue with inconsistent information if another process meanwhile reads from `input-port`.

- `(regexp-match-peek-positions``` `pattern input-port``` [`start-k end-k progress-evt`]`)` is like ``regexp-match-positions`` on input ports, but only peeks bytes from `input-port` instead of reading them.

- `(regexp-match-peek-immediate``` `pattern input-port``` [`start-k end-k progress-evt`]`)` is like `regexp-match-peek`, but it attempts to match only bytes that are available from `input-port` without blocking. The match fails if not-yet-available characters might be used to match `pattern`.

- `(regexp-match-peek-positions-immediate``` `pattern input-port``` [`start-k end-k progress-evt`]`)` is like `regexp-match-peek-positions`, but it attempts to match only bytes that are available from `input-port` without blocking. The match fails if not-yet-available characters might be used to match `pattern`.

- `(regexp-replace``` `pattern string insert-string``)` performs a match using `pattern` on `string` and then returns a string in which the matching portion of `string` is replaced with `insert-string`. If `pattern` matches no part of `string`, then `string` is returned unmodified.

  In all cases, if `pattern` is a byte string or byte regexp value, the result is a byte string, and because `pattern` can match a range in the UTF-8 encoding of `string` that is not itself a UTF-8 encoding, the resulting byte string is not necessarily a valid UTF-8 encodings.

  If `insert-string` contains ``&'', then ``&'' is replaced with the matching portion of `string` before it is substituted into `string`. If `insert-string` contains ```\``n`'' (for some integer `n`), then it is replaced with the `n`th matching sub-expression from `string`.24 ``&'' and ```\`0'' are synonymous. If the `n`th sub-expression was not used in the match or if `n` is greater than the number of sub-expressions in `pattern`, then ```\``n`'' is replaced with the empty string.

  A literal ``&'' or ```\`'' is specified as ```\`&'' or ```\``\`'', respectively. If `insert-string` contains ```\`$'', then ```\`$'' is replaced with the empty string. (This can be used to terminate a number `n` following a backslash.) If a ```\`'' is followed by anything other than a digit, ``&'', ```\`'', or ``$'', then it is treated as ```\`0''.

- `(regexp-replace``` `pattern bytes insert-bytes``)` is analogous to `regexp-replace` on strings, and the result is always a byte string.

  `(regexp-replace*``` `pattern string insert-string``)` is the same as ``regexp-replace``, except that every instance of `pattern` in `string` is replaced with `insert-string`. Only non-overlapping instances of `pattern` in the original `string` are replaced, so instances of `pattern` within inserted strings are not replaced recursively. If, in the process of repeating matches, `pattern` matches an empty string, the `exn:fail` exception is raised.

  `(regexp-replace*``` `pattern bytes insert-bytes``)` is analogous to `regexp-replace*` on strings.

Examples:

    (define r (regexp "(-[0-9]*)+"))
    (regexp-match r "a-12--345b") ; => '("-12--345" "-345")
    (regexp-match-positions r "a-12--345b") ; => '((1 . 10) (5 . 10))
    (regexp-match "x+" "12345") ; => #f
    (regexp-replace "mi" "mi casa" "su") ; => "su casa"

    (define r2 (regexp "([Mm])i ([a-zA-Z]*)"))
    (define insert "\\1y \\2")
    (regexp-replace r2 "Mi Casa" insert) ; => "My Casa"
    (regexp-replace r2 "mi cerveza Mi Mi Mi" insert) ; => "my cerveza Mi Mi Mi"
    (regexp-replace* r2 "mi cerveza Mi Mi Mi" insert) ; => "my cerveza My Mi Mi"

    (define p (open-input-string "a abcd"))
    (regexp-match-peek ".*bc" p) ; => '("a abc")
    (regexp-match-peek ".*bc" p 2) ; => '("abc")
    (regexp-match ".*bc" p 2) ; => '("abc")
    (peek-char p) ; => #\d
    (regexp-match ".*bc" p) ; => #f
    (peek-char p) ; => #<eof>

    (define p (open-input-string "aaaaaaaaaaa abcd"))
    (define o (open-output-string))
    (regexp-match "abc" p 0 #f o) ; => '("abc")
    (get-output-string o) ;  => "aaaaaaaaaaa "

    (define r (byte-regexp #"(-[0-9]*)+"))
    (regexp-match r #"a-12--345b") ; => '(#"-12--345" "-345")
    (regexp-match #".." #"\uC8x")  ; => '(#"\310x")
    ;; The UTF-8 encoding of #\uC8 is two bytes: 195 followed by 136
    (regexp-match #".." "\uC8x")  ; => '(#"\303\210")

23 The implementation is based on Henry Spencer's package.

24 The backslash is a character in the string, so an extra backslash is required to specify the string as a Scheme constant. For example, the Scheme constant `"\\1"` is ```\`1''.