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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!rcj
From: rcj@burl.UUCP (R. Curtis Jackson)
Newsgroups: net.wanted.sources
Subject: Re: Magic string pattern matching (as in vi)
Message-ID: <643@burl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 15-Feb-85 09:03:53 EST
Article-I.D.: burl.643
Posted: Fri Feb 15 09:03:53 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 16-Feb-85 06:03:53 EST
References: <152@sdcc13.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Burlington NC
Lines: 43

> 
> 
> 	Does anybody have a procedure/function that compares two strings,
> 	one which has "magic" wildcards (as in "vi" and "grep")?  For example,
> 	I need to be able to search for a string that matches some pattern like:
> 
> 		"beginning .* end"
> 	
> 	which would match if it found the string:
> 
> 		"beginning with some text in the middle end".
> 
> 	Having both a "search" and a "compare" function would be most useful,
> 	but I could always make one from the other.
> 
> 		Thanks,
> 			Victor Romano.

Well, I would gladly tell you to use the regular expression functions with
Sys V, if I only knew if you were running Sys V.  Something that quite a
few people forget to do in source requests is to provide the following:

Type of computer you are running on (Vax 11/780, 3B20, etc.)
Type and release of operating system (Unix V7, VMS 1.3, BSD 4.2, etc.)

Also, if possible, tell what avenues you may have tried -- for Victor
I would normally say "use lex", since lex is perfect for what he wants.
He may have already tried lex and been confused by it or had some trouble
using it; it'll save both of us time if I know that.

This isn't a poke at you, Victor; just a reminder to people to tell
us in net.wanted.* what type of environment you are working in -- telling
a tire dealer that you want snow tires is pretty useless if he doesn't
know what size you need.

By the way, to make this useful rather than pedantic, I do strongly
recommend lex if you are writing for a specific application.  If you are
looking for generic functions and you have them available, try using
regcmp(3X) and regex(3X) if they are available.
-- 
The MAD Programmer -- 919-228-3313 (Cornet 291)
alias: Curtis Jackson	...![ ihnp4 ulysses cbosgd mgnetp ]!burl!rcj
			...![ ihnp4 cbosgd akgua masscomp ]!clyde!rcj