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PCRE Documentation and Change Log

PCRE Documentation and Change Log
As a convenience to PCRE users, with the permission of Philip Hazel, I aim to provide a mirror to the latest PCRE documentation whenever it is released. To download the latest PCRE, see pcre.org.

Apart from links to various versions of the PCRE documentation, this page presents a curated list of new feature introductions in PCRE's pattern syntax, as well as as links to other PCRE-related material on RexEgg.

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Index For easy navigation, here are some jumping points to various sections of the page:

✽ Change Log

✽ Documentation
✽ Feature Additions to the PCRE Pattern Syntax
✽ When PCRE precedes Perl
✽ Links to other PCRE-related Material on RexEgg

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Change Log ✽ For the latest official PCRE2 revision history (ChangeLog), follow the link, which should remain the same when new versions are released. For the official "PCRE 1" revision history (ChangeLog), follow the link, which shows all changes up to the latest version of PCRE1.

✽ For a brief, curated history of additions to the syntax, see Additions to PCRE further down.

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Documentation ✽ Versions 10.0 and higher are called PCRE2. PCRE2 contains a new API, which includes a replacement function: pcre2_substitute(). The latest PCRE2 documentation should always be available on this link. If you are mostly interested in PCRE's regex syntax, the most important file in the PCRE2 documentation is the pcre2pattern man page. The pcre2api file has the replacement syntax.

✽ Versions below 10.0, sometimes known as "PCRE 1", are the original PCRE library—still widely but now in bug-fix mode only (no new features to be introduced). The latest "PCRE 1" documentation should always live on this link. If you are mostly interested in PCRE's regex syntax, the most important file in the "PCRE 1" documentation is the pcrepattern man page.

PCRE 10.39 documentation

PCRE 10.38 documentation
PCRE 10.37 documentation
PCRE 10.36 documentation
PCRE 10.35 documentation
PCRE 10.34 documentation
PCRE 10.33 documentation
PCRE 10.32 documentation
PCRE 10.31 documentation
PCRE 10.30 documentation
PCRE 10.23 documentation
PCRE 10.22 documentation
PCRE 10.21 documentation
PCRE 10.20 documentation
PCRE 10.10 documentation
PCRE 10.00 documentation

PCRE 8.45 documentation

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Feature Additions to the PCRE Pattern Syntax This section is not the full PCRE change log. Instead, it presents the version and date when new features were added to the pattern syntax. This is a curated collection that does not claim to be exhaustive. For the full story, see the change log for PCRE and the change log for PCRE2.

Version Date Change 10.38 1 Oct 2021 Added PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_LOOKAROUND_BSK option to allow \K in lookarounds 10.36 4 Dec 2020 Added CET_CFLAGS option for Intel CET 10.35 9 May 2020 Added PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_LITERAL option to turn off the interpretation of the replacement string 10.35 9 May 2020 Added PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_MATCHED option 10.35 9 May 2020 Added PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_REPLACEMENT_ONLY option 10.35 9 May 2020 Added Added (?* and (?<* as synonms for (*napla: and (*naplb: to match another regex engine. option 10.34 21 Nov 2019 Added non-atomic positive lookaround via (*non_atomic_positive_lookahead:…) or (*napla:…), (*non_atomic_positive_lookbehind:…) or (*naplb:…) 10.34 21 Nov 2019 (*ACCEPT) can now be quantified: an ungreedy quantifier with a zero minimum is potentially useful 10.34 21 Nov 2019 Add pcre2_get_match_data_size() to the API 10.34 21 Nov 2019 Add pcre2_maketables_free() to the API 10.33 16 Apr 2019 Added Perl "script run" features (*script_run:…) a.k.a (*sr:…), and (*atomic_script_run:…) a.k.a (*asr:…) 10.33 16 Apr 2019 Added Perl 5.28 experimental alphabetic names for atomic groups and lookaround assertions, such as (*pla:…) and (*atomic:…) 10.33 16 Apr 2019 Added PCRE2_EXTRA_ESCAPED_CR_IS_LF option 10.33 16 Apr 2019 Added PCRE2_COPY_MATCHED_SUBJECT option 10.33 16 Apr 2019 Added PCRE2_EXTRA_ALT_BSUX option to support ECMAScript 6 \u{hhh} construct 10.33 16 Apr 2019 In DOTALL mode, \p{Any} is now the same as . 10.32 10 Sep 2018 (?^) unsets all imnsx options 10.32 10 Sep 2018 (*ACCEPT:ARG), (*FAIL:ARG), and (*COMMIT:ARG) are now supported. 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the PCRE2_LITERAL option, telling the compiler to treat the entire pattern as a literal string, including what would normally be metacharacters 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the PCRE2_EXTRA_BAD_ESCAPE_IS_LITERAL option, telling the compiler to treat an escaped character which isn't a proper token (such as \j) as a literal (in this case the letter j) rather than an error 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the PCRE2_NEWLINE_NUL option, which adds the NUL character (binary zero) to the list of characters which can be set as those to be recognized as new lines, set using pcre2_set_newline() 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the PCRE2_EXTRA_ALLOW_SURROGATE_ESCAPES option, giving finer control over the treatment of Unicode surrogate code points 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the (?n) inline option to disable auto-capture, in the same way as the PCRE2_NO_AUTO_CAPTURE API option 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the (?xx) inline option and the PCRE2_EXTENDED_MORE API option to ignore all unescaped whitespace, including in a character class 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added the PCRE2_ENDANCHORED option, telling the engine that the pattern can only match at the end of the subject 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added pcre2_pattern_convert() to the API, an experimental foreign pattern conversion function 10.30 14 Aug 2017 Added pcre2_code_copy_with_tables() to the API 10.23 14 Feb 2017 Allow backreferences in lookbehind so long as group names or numbers are unambiguous 10.23 14 Feb 2017 Added forward relative back-reference syntax: \g{+2} (mirroring the existing \g{-2}) 10.22 29 Jul 2016 Added pcre2_code_copy() to the API 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added the PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_EXTENDED option to enhance replacement syntax 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added the ${*MARK} facility to pcre2_substitute() 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added the PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_OVERFLOW_LENGTH option to tweak what happens during replacements when the output buffer is too small 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added the PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNKNOWN_UNSET and PCRE2_SUBSTITUTE_UNSET_EMPTY options to fine-tune how empty capture groups are treated in replacements 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added the PCRE2_ALT_VERBNAMES option to subtly modify marked names that can be used with backtracking control verbs 10.21 12 Jan 2016 Added pcre2_set_max_pattern_length() to the API, allowing programs to restrict the size of patterns they are prepared to handle 10.20 30 Jun 2015 Added the PCRE2_ALT_CIRCUMFLEX option to allow ^ to assert position after any newline including a terminating newline 10.20 30 Jun 2015 Added the PCRE2_NEVER_BACKSLASH_C option to disable \C 10.20 30 Jun 2015 pcre2_callout_enumerate was added to the API 10.10 6 Mar 2015 Serialization functions were added to the API 10.0 5 Jan 2015 Version check available via patterns such as (?(VERSION>=x)…) 10.0 5 Jan 2015 PCRE2_NO_DOTSTAR_ANCHOR tells the engine not to automatically anchor patterns that start with .* 10.0 5 Jan 2015 (*NOTEMPTY) and (*NOTEMPTY_ATSTART) tell the engine not to return empty matches) 10.0 5 Jan 2015 By default, PCRE2 buils with unicode support 10.0 5 Jan 2015 Name switch to PCRE2 and new API, which includes a replacement function: pcre2_substitute() *** *** *** 8.41 5 Jul 2017 Inline comments can now be inserted between ++ and +? quantifiers, as in a+(?# make it possessive)+ or a+(?# up to b)?b 8.34 15 Dec 2014 Added support for the POSIX [[:<:]] and [[:>:]] (left- and right-of-word boundaries), which are converted to \b(?=\w) and \b(?<=\w) internally 8.34 15 Dec 2014 Added \o{…} to specify code points in octal 8.33 28 May 2014 Added \p{Xuc} (PCRE-specific) to match characters that can be expressed using Universal Character Names 8.10 25 Jun 2010 Added PCRE-specific Unicode properties: \p{Xan} (alphanumeric), \p{Xsp} (Perl space), \p{Xps} (POSIX space) and \p{Xwd} (word) 8.10 25 Jun 2010 Added support for (*MARK:ARG) and for ARG additions to PRUNE, SKIP, and THEN 8.10 25 Jun 2010 Added \N (any character that is not a line break) 8.10 25 Jun 2010 Added the (*UCP) start of pattern modifier, which affects \b, \d, \s and \w 7.90 11 Apr 2009 Added the (*UTF8) start of pattern modifier 7.70 7 May 2008 Added Ruby-style subroutine call syntax: \g<2>, \g'name', \g'2' 7.30 28 Aug 2007 Added backtracking control verbs (*SKIP), (*FAIL), (*F), (*PRUNE), (*THEN), (*COMMIT), (*ACCEPT) 7.30 28 Aug 2007 Added the (*CR) start of pattern modifier 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added (?-2) and (?+2) syntax for relative subroutine calls 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added (?(-2)…) and (?(+2)…) conditional syntax to check if a relative capture group has been set 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added \K to drop what has been matched so far from the match to be returned 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added named back-reference synonyms: \k{foo} and \g{foo} 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added branch reset syntax (?|…) 7.20 19 Jun 2007 Added \h and \v (and their counterclasses \H and \V) to match horizontal and vertical whitespace 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added \R to match any Unicode newline sequence 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added named group synonyms (?<foo>…) and (?'foo'…) 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added named subroutine call synonym (?&foo) 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added named back-reference synonyms \k<foo> and \k'foo' 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added named conditional synonyms (?(<foo>)…), (?('foo')…) and (?(foo)…) 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added pre-defined subroutines (?(DEFINE)…) 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added conditional syntax to check if a subroutine or recursion level has been reached: (?(R2)…), (?(R&foo)…) and (?(R)…) 7.00 19 Dec 2006 Added \g2 and \g{-2} for relative back-references 6.70 4 Jul 2006 Added named groups in conditionals: (?(foo)…) 6.50 1 Feb 2006 Added support for Unicode script names via \p{Arabic} 6.00 7 Jun 2005 Added pcre_dfa_exec() to the API 6.00 7 Jun 2005 Added pcre_refcount() to the API 6.00 7 Jun 2005 Added pcre_compile2() to the API 5.00 13 Sep 2004 Added support for Unicode categories such as \p{L} and negated Unicode categories such as \P{Nd} 5.00 13 Sep 2004 Added \X Unicode grapheme token 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added [:blank:] to match ASCII space character and tab 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added \Q…\E escape sequence 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added possessive quantifiers: ?+, *+, ++ and {…,…}+ 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added \C to match a single byte, even in UTF-8 mode 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added the \G continuation anchor 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added callouts (?C), (?C2) etc. which can be used in C but not PHP 4.00 17 Feb 2003 Added named groups (?P<foo>…) and back-references (?P=foo), and subroutine calls (?P>foo) 3.30 1 Aug 2000 Added pcre_free_substring() and pcre_free_substring_list() to the API 3.00 1 Feb 2000 Added recursion (?R) 3.00 1 Feb 2000 Added POSIX classes such as [:alpha:] 3.00 1 Feb 2000 Added pcre_fullinfo() to the API 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Atomic groups (?>) can now be quantified 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Added positive lookbehind (?<=…) 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Added negative lookbehind (? 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Added non-capturing groups with inline modifiers (?imsx-imsx:) 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Added unsetting of inline modifiers: (?-imsx) 2.00 24 Sep 1998 Added conditional pattern matching (?(cond)re|re) 1.08 27 Mar 1998 Add PCRE_UNGREEDY to invert the greediness of quantifiers 1.08 27 Mar 1998 Added the inline modifier (?U) to turn on ungreedy mode 1.08 27 Mar 1998 Added the inline modifier (?X) to turn on extras mode 0.99 27 Oct 1997 Added atomic groups (?>…) 0.96 16 Oct 1997 Added DOTALL mode, including inline modifier (?s) 0.93 15 Sep 1997 Added pcre_study() to the API 0.92 11 Sep 1997 Added multiline mode via inline modifier (?m) and PCRE_MULTILINE 0.92 11 Sep 1997 Added pcre_info() to the API (removed in 8.30)

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When PCRE precedes Perl For the most part, PCRE tries to stay in step with Perl regex syntax, but the two engines' behaviors are not always identical. As is bound to happen in communities with many active users, it can happen that an idea makes it to the PCRE engine before it gets adopted by Perl. This kind of friendly exchange is a good thing for all regexers. Parochial not invented here postures wouldn't serve us—we just want the best regex engines.

Here are examples of features where PCRE preceded Perl:

✽ Recursion was first implemented in PCRE by a contributor and appeared in version 3.0 (February 2000). Perl introduced recursion in version 5.10 (officially released in December 2007), which explains why certain details function differently in the two engines.

✽ PCRE implemented Python's named group syntax (?P<foo>…) in version 4.0 (February 2003). Perl started supporting named groups in version 5.10 (officially released in December 2007).

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Links to other PCRE-related Material on RexEgg PCRE-related material is peppered throughout the site. Below, I try to maintain a list of the most significant "PCRE pockets" on the site.

✽ Reducing (?…) Syntax Confusion explains all the (?…) syntax. Other points of PCRE syntax can be found on the pages about anchors, boundaries, capture groups and others (see the "Black Belt Program") in the left-side menu at the top of the page.

✽ The page on flags and modifiers has a section about PCRE's Special Start-of-Pattern Modifiers.

✽ I've implemented an infinite lookbehind demo for PCRE.

✽ pcregrep and pcretest presents two PCRE-specific tools and includes the latest Windows binaries.

✽ My page on backtracking control verbs shows useful contructs such as (*SKIP)(*FAIL)

✽ The PHP regex page shows the PHP interface to the PCRE engine.

✽ The trick about matching line numbers shows an interesting example of self-referencing groups and of recursion.

✽ The trick about matching numbers in plain English shows an full-scale example of how (?(DEFINE)…) can be used to produce modular, maintainable patterns.

Two marvelous PCRE tools:
grep with pcregrep, debug and optimize with pcretest

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