// Copyright (c) 1999-2000 David Muse
// See the COPYING file for more information.

#ifndef REGEXP_H
#define REGEXP_H

// The regular expression class provides methods for making comparisons
// between text and regular expressions.
//
// Regular expressions are complex, powerful, used in command line
// programs like grep, sed and find, and extensively in Perl.

class regularexpression {
        public:
                        regularexpression();
                        regularexpression(char *pattern);
                                // this constructor calls the compile method
                                // below during initialization
                virtual ~regularexpression();

                // if you need to do a quick comparison, use this method
                static  int     match(char *str, char *pattern);
                                // returns 1 if "str" matches "pattern"
                                // and 0 if "str" doesn't match "pattern"

                // if you need to do many comparisons against a single
                // expression, use these methods
                int     compile(char *pattern);
                                // Compiles the regular expression given in
                                // "pattern". Returns 1 if the compilation 
                                // succeeded and 0 if it failed.
                int     match(char *str);
                                // Matches "str" against the regular expression
                                // compiled earlier using the compile method.
                                // Returns 1 if the match was successful and
                                // 0 if it was not.
        private:

                #include <rudiments/private/regularexpression.h>
};

#endif