#50812 [NEW]: What exactly does quantifier minimizer mean when it comes to the '?' meta char?

From: mdepuy at gmail dot com Operating system: PHP version: Irrelevant PHP Bug Type: Documentation problem Bug description: What exactly does quantifier minimizer mean when it comes to the '?' meta char? Description: ------------ On the meta character description page for PCRE (http://php.net/manual/en/regexp.reference.meta.php), it notes that the '?' character is also 'also quantifier minimizer'. Can anyone elaborate on exactly what this means? Reproduce code: --------------- --- From manual page: regexp.reference.meta --- http://php.net/manual/en/regexp.reference.meta.php -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=50812&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.2): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=trysnapshot52 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (PHP 6.0): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=trysnapshot60 Fixed in SVN: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=fixed Fixed in SVN and need be documented: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=needdocs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=needscript Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=php4 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=gnused Floating point limitations: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=float No Zend Extensions: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=50812&r=mysqlcfg