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Regexp::Common::balanced(3)          User Contributed Perl Documentation         Regexp::Common::balanced(3)



NAME
       Regexp::Common::balanced -- provide regexes for strings with balanced parenthesized delimiters or
       arbitrary delimiters.

SYNOPSIS
           use Regexp::Common qw /balanced/;

           while (<>) {
               /$RE{balanced}{-parens=>'()'}/
                                          and print q{balanced parentheses\n};
           }

DESCRIPTION
       Please consult the manual of Regexp::Common for a general description of the works of this interface.

       Do not use this module directly, but load it via Regexp::Common.

       $RE{balanced}{-parens}

       Returns a pattern that matches a string that starts with the nominated opening parenthesis or
       bracket, contains characters and properly nested parenthesized subsequences, and ends in the matching
       parenthesis.

       More than one type of parenthesis can be specified:

               $RE{balanced}{-parens=>'(){}'}

       in which case all specified parenthesis types must be correctly balanced within the string.

       If we are using C{-keep} (See Regexp::Common):

       $1  captures the entire expression

       $RE{balanced}{-begin => "begin"}{-end => "end"}

       Returns a pattern that matches a string that is properly balanced using the begin and end strings as
       start and end delimiters.  Multiple sets of begin and end strings can be given by separating them by
       "|"s (which can be escaped with a backslash).

           qr/$RE{balanced}{-begin => "do|if|case"}{-end => "done|fi|esac"}/

       will match properly balanced strings that either start with do and end with done, start with if and
       end with fi, or start with case and end with esac.

       If -end contains less cases than -begin, the last case of -end is repeated. If it contains more cases
       than -begin, the extra cases are ignored. If either of -begin or -end isn't given, or is empty,
       -begin => '(' and -end => ')' are assumed.

       If we are using C{-keep} (See Regexp::Common):

       $1  captures the entire expression

HISTORY
        $Log: balanced.pm,v $
        Revision 2.101  2003/02/01 22:55:31  abigail
        Changed Copyright years

        Revision 2.100  2003/01/21 23:19:40  abigail
        The whole world understands RCS/CVS version numbers, that 1.9 is an
        older version than 1.10. Except CPAN. Curse the idiot(s) who think
        that version numbers are floats (in which universe do floats have
        more than one decimal dot?).
        Everything is bumped to version 2.100 because CPAN couldn't deal
        with the fact one file had version 1.10.

        Revision 1.6  2002/08/20 15:20:48  abigail
        Documented -begin and -end

        Revision 1.5  2002/08/08 23:57:33  abigail
        Added HISTORY section.

        Revision 1.4  2002/08/08 23:53:54  abigail
        Reworked and extended $RE{balanced}. It now takes multiple arbitrary
        length delimiters. -parens is just a short-cut for some of the common,
        simpler cases.

        Revision 1.3  2002/08/05 12:16:58  abigail
        Fixed 'Regex::' and 'Rexexp::' typos to 'Regexp::'
        (Found my Mike Castle).

        Revision 1.2  2002/07/25 22:37:44  abigail
        Added 'use strict'.
        Added 'no_defaults' to 'use Regexp::Common' to prevent loaded of all
        defaults.

        Revision 1.1  2002/07/25 22:14:44  abigail
        Factored out from Regexp::Common.

SEE ALSO
       Regexp::Common for a general description of how to use this interface.

AUTHOR
       Damian Conway (damian@conway.org)

MAINTAINANCE
       This package is maintained by Abigail (regexp-common@abigail.nl).

BUGS AND IRRITATIONS
       Bound to be plenty.

       For a start, there are many common regexes missing.  Send them in to regexp-common@abigail.nl.

COPYRIGHT
            Copyright (c) 2001 - 2003, Damian Conway. All Rights Reserved.
              This module is free software. It may be used, redistributed
             and/or modified under the terms of the Perl Artistic License
                   (see http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html)



perl v5.8.8                                      2003-03-23                      Regexp::Common::balanced(3)