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Doc Bug #36442 preg_match's examples shouldn't always use / as delimiter
Submitted: 2006-02-18 14:48 UTC Modified: 2006-02-18 23:44 UTC
From: colder@php.net Assigned:
Status: Closed Package: Documentation problem
PHP Version: Irrelevant OS: Irrelevant
Private report: No CVE-ID: None
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 [2006-02-18 14:48 UTC] colder@php.net 
Description:
------------
In the manual page of preg_match, "/" is always used as delimiter, even if there are "/"s in the regex. It could influences bad habbits on readers.

There are also too many escaped chars.

Here is the patch containing the proposed changes:

http://www.colder.ch/patches/preg-match.patch

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 [2006-02-18 16:05 UTC] arpad@php.net 
I'm not sure of the merit of using a different delimiter   
there since it demonstrates that if the delimiter does 
exist, it should be escaped.   
However if it is changed, I think '|' is a bad choice   
because it's part of PCRE syntax.
 [2006-02-18 16:05 UTC] arpad@php.net 
I'm not sure of the merit of using a different delimiter   
there since it demonstrates that if the delimiter does 
exist, it should be escaped.   
However if it is changed, I think '|' is a bad choice   
because it's part of PCRE syntax.
 [2006-02-18 16:41 UTC] colder@php.net 
In the examples of other pcre functions, "|" was often used as an alternative. (e.g. http://php.net/preg_match_all http://php.net/preg_replace_callback)

The fact that chars used as delimiter must be escaped in the regex is already stated here: http://php.net/pcre#pcre.intro

The point is : having to escape a delimiter in the regex is almost always due to a wrong choice of delimiter. So must we demonstrate that wrong choice ?

I agree that the alternative could be another char, like "!". But then the examples using "|" could be changed. Is it worth it ?

Anyway, the "." escaped in a character class must be changed, because it would fail using the PCRE_EXTRA (X) modifier (I agree that its not ofted used but still ;) ).
 [2006-02-18 16:45 UTC] colder@php.net 
Rectification: it will work using X PCRE_EXTRA modifier, my bad.
 [2006-02-18 23:44 UTC] nlopess@php.net 
ok, regex improved.
 
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