re_comp(3) Library Functions Manual re_comp(3)
NAME
re_comp, re_exec - BSD regex functions
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#define _REGEX_RE_COMP
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <regex.h>
[[deprecated]] char *re_comp(const char *regex);
[[deprecated]] int re_exec(const char *string);
DESCRIPTION
re_comp() is used to compile the null-terminated regular expression
pointed to by regex. The compiled pattern occupies a static area, the
pattern buffer, which is overwritten by subsequent use of re_comp(). If
regex is NULL, no operation is performed and the pattern buffer's con-
tents are not altered.
re_exec() is used to assess whether the null-terminated string pointed
to by string matches the previously compiled regex.
RETURN VALUE
re_comp() returns NULL on successful compilation of regex otherwise it
returns a pointer to an appropriate error message.
re_exec() returns 1 for a successful match, zero for failure.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see attributes(7).
┌──────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────┐
│ Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├──────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼───────────┤
│ re_comp(), re_exec() │ Thread safety │ MT-Unsafe │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴───────────┘
STANDARDS
None.
HISTORY
4.3BSD.
These functions are obsolete; the functions documented in regcomp(3)
should be used instead.
SEE ALSO
regcomp(3), regex(7), GNU regex manual
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 re_comp(3)
Generated by dwww version 1.16 on Tue Dec 16 03:58:40 CET 2025.