GNU bug report logs - #36251
Regex library doesn't recognize ']' in a character class

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From: <tomas <at> tuxteam.de>
To: 36251 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#36251: Regex library doesn't recognize ']' in a character class
Date: Sun, 16 Jun 2019 21:40:08 +0200

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On Sun, Jun 16, 2019 at 08:16:29PM +0300, Abdulrahman Semrie wrote:
> 
> I am using the pattern [\\[\\]a-zA-Z]+ to match a string with left or right bracket in it. However, the string-match function doesn’t match the ‘]’ character. To demonstrate with an example, try the following funciton:
> 
> (string-match "[\\[\\]a-zA-Z]+" "Text[ab]”)
> 
> The result for the above function should have been a match structure with Text[ab] matched. However, the string-match returns #f which is incorrect. To test if the pattern I am using was right, I tried on regex101.com and it works. Here (https://regex101.com/r/VAl6aI/1) is the link that demonstrates that it works.
> 
> Hence, the above leads me to believe there is a bug in the regex library that mishandles ] character in character-classes

If I understood you correctly, you are using POSIX regular
expressions. Within a bracket expression ([...]), you can't
escape ']' with a backslash. Just put the ] as first character,
like so:

  [][a-zA-Z]

Quoting the man page (regex(7)):

   A bracket expression is a list of characters enclosed in "[]".
   It normally matches any single character from the list (but see
   below).  If the list begins  with  '^', it  matches  any  single
   character  (but see below) not from the rest of the list. [...]

   To  include  a  literal ']' in the list, make it the first
   character (following a possible '^').  To include a literal
   '-', make it the first or last character, or the second endpoint
   of a range [...]

See also [1], but the man page is more complete.

(I'm assuming your Guile is linked against some POSIX regex library).

Cheers
-- t

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