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authorRaymond Hettinger <python@rcn.com>2003-09-10 03:54:50 (GMT)
committerRaymond Hettinger <python@rcn.com>2003-09-10 03:54:50 (GMT)
commitbed92ee2b21dab6c75b75effcea901d32be689b8 (patch)
treedc41f4c4b10ccf0b8745263b6b8007d6af183410 /Doc/lib/libre.tex
parent62685d36aaa3a26fb5c6a5935e387b008880436f (diff)
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SF patch #800899: Making "|" directive from REs a bit clearer.
Diffstat (limited to 'Doc/lib/libre.tex')
-rw-r--r--Doc/lib/libre.tex15
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/Doc/lib/libre.tex b/Doc/lib/libre.tex
index bf4df63..1aaebd9 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libre.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libre.tex
@@ -186,14 +186,13 @@ except \character{\textasciicircum}.
\item[\character{|}]\code{A|B}, where A and B can be arbitrary REs,
creates a regular expression that will match either A or B. An
arbitrary number of REs can be separated by the \character{|} in this
-way. This can be used inside groups (see below) as well. REs
-separated by \character{|} are tried from left to right, and the first
-one that allows the complete pattern to match is considered the
-accepted branch. This means that if \code{A} matches, \code{B} will
-never be tested, even if it would produce a longer overall match. In
-other words, the \character{|} operator is never greedy. To match a
-literal \character{|}, use \regexp{\e|}, or enclose it inside a
-character class, as in \regexp{[|]}.
+way. This can be used inside groups (see below) as well. As the target
+string is scanned, REs separated by \character{|} are tried from left to
+right. When one pattern completely matches, that branch is accepted.
+This means that once \code{A} matches, \code{B} will not be tested further,
+even if it would produce a longer overall match. In other words, the
+\character{|} operator is never greedy. To match a literal \character{|},
+use \regexp{\e|}, or enclose it inside a character class, as in \regexp{[|]}.
\item[\code{(...)}] Matches whatever regular expression is inside the
parentheses, and indicates the start and end of a group; the contents