regexp - regular expression handler

int regexp( string str, string pattern);

string array regexp( string array lines, string pattern);

string array regexp( string array lines, string pattern, int flag);

In the first version, regexp() returns true (1) if the string str contains
a substring which matches the regular expression 'pattern'.  If a complete
match is wanted, the pattern should begin with ^ and end with $.

When presented with an array of lines of text and a regular 
expression, regexp() returns an array containing those lines which 
match the pattern specified by the regular expression. If the (flag & 2)
is nonzero, (flag defaults to zero), then non-matches will be returned
instead of matches. If (flag & 1) is nonzero, the array returned will be of 
the form ({ index1 + 1, match1, ..., indexn + 1, matchn }) where indexn
is the index of nth match/non match in the array lines.

REGULAR EXPRESSION SYNTAX

A regular expression is zero or more <b>branches</b>, separated by '|'.
It matches anything that matches one of the branches.

A <b>branch</b> is zero or more <i>pieces</i>, concatenated.
It matches a match for the first, followed by a match for the second, etc.

A <b>piece</b> is an <i>atom</i> possibly followed by '*', '+', or '?'.
An atom followed by '*' matches a sequence of 0 or more matches of the atom.
An atom followed by '+' matches a sequence of 1 or more matches of the atom.
An atom followed by '?' matches a match of the atom, or the null string.

An <b>atom</b> is a regular expression in parentheses (matching a match for the
regular expression), a <i>range</i> (see below), '.'
(matching any single character), '^' (matching the null string at the
beginning of the input string), '$' (matching the null string at the
end of the input string), a '\e' followed by a single character (matching
that character), or a single character with no other significance
(matching that character).

A <b>range</b> is a sequence of characters enclosed in '[]'.
It normally matches any single character from the sequence.
If the sequence begins with '^',
it matches any single character <b>not</b> from the rest of the sequence.
If two characters in the sequence are separated by '-', this is shorthand
for the full list of ASCII characters between them
(e.g. '[0-9]' matches any decimal digit).
To include a literal ']' in the sequence, make it the first character
(following a possible '^').
To include a literal '-', make it the first or last character.

AMBIGUITY

If a regular expression could match two different parts of the input string,
it will match the one which begins earliest.
If both begin in the same place but match different lengths, or match
the same length in different ways, life gets messier, as follows.

In general, the possibilities in a list of branches are considered in
left-to-right order, the possibilities for '*', '+', and '?' are
considered longest-first, nested constructs are considered from the
outermost in, and concatenated constructs are considered leftmost-first.
The match that will be chosen is the one that uses the earliest
possibility in the first choice that has to be made.
If there is more than one choice, the next will be made in the same manner
(earliest possibility) subject to the decision on the first choice.
And so forth.

For example, '(ab|a)b*c' could match 'abc' in one of two ways.
The first choice is between 'ab' and 'a'; since 'ab' is earlier, and does
lead to a successful overall match, it is chosen.
Since the 'b' is already spoken for,
the 'b*' must match its last possibility (the empty string) since
it must respect the earlier choice.

In the particular case where no '|'s are present and there is only one
'*', '+', or '?', the net effect is that the longest possible
match will be chosen.
So 'ab*', presented with 'xabbbby', will match 'abbbb'.
Note that if 'ab*' is tried against 'xabyabbbz', it
will match 'ab' just after 'x', due to the begins-earliest rule.
(In effect, the decision on where to start the match is the first choice
to be made, hence subsequent choices must respect it even if this leads them
to less-preferred alternatives.)

See also:

 sscanf,
 explode,
 strsrch

 Tim Hollebeek  Beek@ZorkMUD, Lima Bean, IdeaExchange, and elsewhere