@c -*-texinfo-*-
@c This is part of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.
-@c Copyright (C) 1990-1995, 1998-1999, 2001-2013 Free Software
+@c Copyright (C) 1990-1995, 1998-1999, 2001-2015 Free Software
@c Foundation, Inc.
@c See the file elisp.texi for copying conditions.
@node Searching and Matching
@group
(word-search-forward "Please find the ball, boy.")
- @result{} 36
+ @result{} 39
---------- Buffer: foo ----------
He said "Please! Find
times. Point is positioned at the end of the last match.
@findex word-search-regexp
-Internal, @code{word-search-forward} and related functions use the
+Internally, @code{word-search-forward} and related functions use the
function @code{word-search-regexp} to convert @var{string} to a
regular expression that ignores punctuation.
@end deffn
@deffn Command word-search-forward-lax string &optional limit noerror repeat
This command is identical to @code{word-search-forward}, except that
-the end of @var{string} need not match a word boundary, unless @var{string} ends
-in whitespace. For instance, searching for @samp{ball boy} matches
-@samp{ball boyee}, but does not match @samp{aball boy}.
+the beginning or the end of @var{string} need not match a word
+boundary, unless @var{string} begins or ends in whitespace.
+For instance, searching for @samp{ball boy} matches @samp{ball boyee},
+but does not match @samp{balls boy}.
@end deffn
@deffn Command word-search-backward string &optional limit noerror repeat
@deffn Command word-search-backward-lax string &optional limit noerror repeat
This command is identical to @code{word-search-backward}, except that
-the end of @var{string} need not match a word boundary, unless @var{string} ends
-in whitespace.
+the beginning or the end of @var{string} need not match a word
+boundary, unless @var{string} begins or ends in whitespace.
@end deffn
@node Searching and Case
@node Syntax of Regexps
@subsection Syntax of Regular Expressions
+@cindex regexp syntax
+@cindex syntax of regular expressions
Regular expressions have a syntax in which a few characters are
special constructs and the rest are @dfn{ordinary}. An ordinary
@node Regexp Special
@subsubsection Special Characters in Regular Expressions
+@cindex regexp, special characters in
Here is a list of the characters that are special in a regular
expression.
@item [:ascii:]
This matches any @acronym{ASCII} character (codes 0--127).
@item [:alnum:]
-This matches any letter or digit. (At present, for multibyte
-characters, it matches anything that has word syntax.)
+This matches any letter or digit. For multibyte characters, it
+matches characters whose Unicode @samp{general-category} property
+(@pxref{Character Properties}) indicates they are alphabetic or
+decimal number characters.
@item [:alpha:]
-This matches any letter. (At present, for multibyte characters, it
-matches anything that has word syntax.)
+This matches any letter. For multibyte characters, it matches
+characters whose Unicode @samp{general-category} property
+(@pxref{Character Properties}) indicates they are alphabetic
+characters.
@item [:blank:]
This matches space and tab only.
@item [:cntrl:]
These functions operate on regular expressions.
+@cindex quote special characters in regexp
@defun regexp-quote string
This function returns a regular expression whose only exact match is
@var{string}. Using this regular expression in @code{looking-at} will
@end example
@end defun
+@cindex optimize regexp
@defun regexp-opt strings &optional paren
This function returns an efficient regular expression that will match
any of the strings in the list @var{strings}. This is useful when you
@cindex searching for regexp
In GNU Emacs, you can search for the next match for a regular
-expression either incrementally or not. For incremental search
-commands, see @ref{Regexp Search, , Regular Expression Search, emacs,
-The GNU Emacs Manual}. Here we describe only the search functions
-useful in programs. The principal one is @code{re-search-forward}.
+expression (@pxref{Syntax of Regexps}) either incrementally or not.
+For incremental search commands, see @ref{Regexp Search, , Regular
+Expression Search, emacs, The GNU Emacs Manual}. Here we describe
+only the search functions useful in programs. The principal one is
+@code{re-search-forward}.
These search functions convert the regular expression to multibyte if
the buffer is multibyte; they convert the regular expression to unibyte
the current buffer is the one in which you performed the last search.
Then this function edits the buffer, replacing the matched text with
@var{replacement}. It leaves point at the end of the replacement
-text, and returns @code{t}.
+text.
If you performed the last search on a string, pass the same string as
@var{string}. Then this function returns a new string, in which the
Answer this question ``no'', and give up on the entire series of
questions, assuming that the answers will be ``no''.
-@c FIXME: Document ‘unread-comment-events’? --xfq
@item exit-prefix
Like @code{exit}, but add the key that was pressed to
-@code{unread-comment-events}.
+@code{unread-command-events} (@pxref{Event Input Misc}).
@item act-and-exit
Answer this question ``yes'', and give up on the entire series of