#32470 [NEW]: preg_compile() Need way to pre-compile regex

From: sam_bravard at yahoo dot com Operating system: all PHP version: 5.0.3 PHP Bug Type: Feature/Change Request Bug description: preg_compile() Need way to pre-compile regex Description: ------------ PHP is missing the ability to pre-compile regex expressions and then use the pre-compiled regex. This is a _major_ performance issue (100x) when processing files or text streams with regex's. In PHP you have to recompile the regex for each line you process... a major waste of cpu time. See Perl, .NET or Java's regex support for an example of how to use precompiled regex's. Perhaps PHP can add something like the following and just overload the first argument to preg_match and friends: $precompiled_expression = preg_compile("regex expression"); preg_match($precompiled_expression, $sourcedata, $matches); Reproduce code: --------------- $precompiled_expression = preg_compile("regex expression"); preg_match($precompiled_expression, $sourcedata, $matches); Actual result: -------------- Function doesn't exist... sorely needed for performance. -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=32470&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (php4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=trysnapshot4 Try a CVS snapshot (php5.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=trysnapshot50 Try a CVS snapshot (php5.1): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=trysnapshot51 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=32470&r=mysqlcfg