#24571 [NEW]: preg ungreedy modifier documentation unclear

From: matthewb at syrah dot us Operating system: Irrelevant PHP version: Irrelevant PHP Bug Type: Documentation problem Bug description: preg ungreedy modifier documentation unclear Description: ------------ The preg documentation for setting the ungreedy modifier in the middle of a pattern is unclear on this page: http://www.php.net/manual/en/pcre.pattern.modifiers.php In the "U (PCRE_UNGREEDY)" section it says: "It [the ungreedy modifier] can also be set by a (?U) modifier setting within the pattern." This is confusing. Why is the "U" inside the parentheses? Why are the parentheses even here? As far as I can tell, neither the parentheses nor the U have anything to do with using "?" to make a particular quantifier ungreedy within a pattern. Specifically, neither /,.*?U,/ nor /,.*(?U),/ seem to make the * ungreedy. In my opinion, it would be more clear to say: "The ungreedy modifier can also be applied to individual quantifiers within a pattern by placing a "?" after the quantifier. For example /,.*?,/ will ungreedily match characters between the commas." (Aside: I admit that the effects of the "?" inside patterns is well documented on this page: http://www.php.net/manual/en/pcre.pattern.syntax.php But unfortunately the word "ungreedy", while it does appear on the page, does not appear near the section describing the ungreedy effects of "?".) Many thanks. -- Edit bug report at http://bugs.php.net/?id=24571&edit=1 -- Try a CVS snapshot (php4): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=trysnapshot4 Try a CVS snapshot (php5): http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=trysnapshot5 Fixed in CVS: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=fixedcvs Fixed in release: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=needtrace Try newer version: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=oldversion Not developer issue: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=support Expected behavior: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=notwrong Not enough info: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=submittedtwice register_globals: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=globals PHP 3 support discontinued: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=php3 Daylight Savings: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=dst IIS Stability: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: http://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=24571&r=gnused