PCRE_GET_NAMED_SUBSTRING(3)

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is pcre16_get_named_substring(3) from the Library Functions Manual bestie, and what it is, is PCRE — that's Perl-compatible regular expressions 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

here's the vibe, three flavors of the exact same energy 🫶

#include <pcre.h>

int pcre_get_named_substring(const pcre *code,
     const char *subject, int *ovector,
     int stringcount, const char *stringname,
     const char **stringptr);

int pcre16_get_named_substring(const pcre16 *code,
     PCRE_SPTR16 subject, int *ovector,
     int stringcount, PCRE_SPTR16 stringname,
     PCRE_SPTR16 *stringptr);

int pcre32_get_named_substring(const pcre32 *code,
     PCRE_SPTR32 subject, int *ovector,
     int stringcount, PCRE_SPTR32 stringname,
     PCRE_SPTR32 *stringptr);

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so like. this is a convenience function, and it's literally just here to hand you a captured substring by its name instead of making you count capture groups like a peasant. it's giving "i know what i named it, just give it to me" 😭✨

here's what you're feeding it:

• code — your compiled pattern, the whole blueprint bestie
• subject — the subject string that has already been successfully matched (key word: successfully, don't play games 🙈)
• ovector — the offset vector that pcre[16|32]_exec() used
• stringcount — the value that pcre[16|32]_exec() returned
• stringname — the name of the substring you want, bestie
• stringptr — where to put the string pointer 👑

the memory where that substring gets placed? it's obtained by calling pcre[16|32]_malloc() 💖 so it's yours, you own it, and when you don't need it anymore you use the convenience function pcre[16|32]_free_substring() to let it go. free your friends, periodt 🎀

the yield of the function — what it gives back to you — is one of three things:

1. the length of the extracted substring ✨
2. PCRE_ERROR_NOMEMORY if it couldn't get enough memory 😭
3. PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING if the string name is invalid 💀

ngl if you get PCRE_ERROR_NOSUBSTRING that name does not exist in your pattern. that's on the name, not on you, but still. check it. 🫶

there's a complete description of the PCRE native API in the pcreapi page, and a description of the POSIX API in the pcreposix page. go read those if you want the full lore, iykyk 📚💜

okay that's the whole thing bestie, slay, go extract some substrings 🦋🌸

this was PCRE 8.30, dated 24 June 2012 — iconic, vintage, still serving 💅👑