[Boost-users] [regex] ECMAScript conformance

From: Armel Asselin (asselin.armel_at_[hidden])
Date: 2007-05-30 04:26:55

[boost 1.34.0, with last update to regex sources on 28th february 2007]

Hello,

first of all I must tell that I am very happy with boost.regex, it's 
fantastic.

though, there are a few inconsistencies though with the ECMAScript spec.
1. it seems that re-matching an atom does not first clear its sub-matches, 
as "step 4" in page 135 of ECMA 262 3rd edition tells to.

that is, it does what is in the 'and not' part here:

/(z)((a+)?(b+)?(c))*/.exec("zaacbbbcac")
which returns the array
["zaacbbbcac", "z", "ac", "a", undefined, "c"]
and not
["zaacbbbcac", "z", "ac", "a", "bbb", "c"]

2. the {n,m} notation should not accept spaces in ECMAScript mode (though 
it's practical, it's not conformant). I easily admit that its not really 
important.

Best regards
Armel