Re: multiline regex mode?

[Perry Smith <pedz@easesoftware.com>]

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On Nov 25, 2006, at 7:14 AM, Peter Dyballa wrote:
> Am 25.11.2006 um 04:01 schrieb Dieter Wilhelm:
>>> So "{[^}]*}" stands for 'a region that starts with `{´ and has no  
>>> `}´
>>> until the final `}´ is hit; between both braces any number (starting
>>> with 0) of any character except `}´ can appear.'
>>
>> Thanks Peter for the hassle.  Maybe I expressed myself in a confusing
>> manner: The period and the character alternatives I understand.  What
>> I really wanted to know is where to look for a possibility of
>> searching for *balanced* brackets like { { } } because I'll need this
>> in my own Elisp stuff.  It's clear that there is some code in Emacs
>> for it (e. g. C-M-f etc.) but I have a hunch that there might be
>> something else out there.  Maybe a regexp extension in Perl or ...
>
> I think you can't use one regular expression for a variety of  
> nested "*balanced* brackets like { { } }".

Correct.

For the curious: regular expressions create what is called a  
deterministic finite automata (DFA).  Also known as a state machine.   
They can not "count" which is what you ask asking for.  A simple  
"reason" is because the count can be infinite (although that  
explanation leaves out much).

The next level up in language parsing theory is a push down automata  
(PDA).  This is, roughly speaking, a DFA coupled with a stack.  The  
stack is infinite.  So, it now has the power to count.

The easiest way to do a PDA in lisp is with recursive decent and a  
rather simple lisp function can call itself when it hits a second  
{ and return when it hits a }.  When the last function returns, you  
have hit the matching } of the first {.

All that aside, emacs has code written to balance parens, braces,  
brackets, etc.  You can look at forward-sexp as a starting point.   
And, in the case of emacs, it is pretty flexible.  By specifying  
syntax tables, you can tell it what characters match each other.   
Look at modify-syntax-entry for that piece of the puzzle.

Hope this helps...

Perry Smith ( pedz@easesoftware.com )
Ease Software, Inc. ( http://www.easesoftware.com )

Low cost SATA Disk Systems for IBMs p5, pSeries, and RS/6000 AIX systems



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