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In PCRE, what's the difference between:
^ and \A, and$ and \Z?I remember reading there was a subtle difference, but can't recall exactly what it was.
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PCRE tries to match Perl syntax and semantics as closely as it can. PCRE also supports some alternative regular expression syntax (which does not conflict with the Perl syntax) in order to provide some compatibility with regular expressions in Python, . NET, and Oniguruma.
Perl Compatible Regular Expressions (PCRE) is a library written in C, which implements a regular expression engine, inspired by the capabilities of the Perl programming language.
(?:...) A non-capturing version of regular parentheses. Matches whatever regular expression is inside the parentheses, but the substring matched by the group cannot be retrieved after performing a match or referenced later in the pattern.
To match a character having special meaning in regex, you need to use a escape sequence prefix with a backslash ( \ ). E.g., \. matches "." ; regex \+ matches "+" ; and regex \( matches "(" . You also need to use regex \\ to match "\" (back-slash).
By default, there is no difference between the two, they both signify the start or end of the string. If, however, you use the m modifier, then ^ and $ will match the start and end of lines, respectively.
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