note 74542 added to function.preg-match

I have posted this note on the bug tracker and also here because it might help a lot of users experiencing 500 server errors when using preg_match_all or preg_match. If the PHP script worked fine until the latest PHP update (which now bundles with PCRE version 7), then you might have a regex problem. See also http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=41050 and similar; this bug is marked as a PCRE bug, so you can experience it on any PHP4/PHP5 (under any OS) with PCRE7. I found a workaround for my own problem, maybe it will help other users too. <?php // by legolas558 // core regex expression (without leading and trailing slash) $regex = "(?i:begin|start)\\s+([^']*('[^']*')*)*"; $old_php_regex = "/".$regex."/"; // notice the greedy/ungreedy change which actually works around the segmentation fault $bug41050_regex = "/".$regex."?/"; // test case $subject = "begin\nnon string 'string' other non string"; // will work on any PHP - also the latest versions with PCRE7 preg_match_all($bug41050_regex, $subject, $m); echo '<pre>';var_dump($m);echo '</pre>'; unset($m); // will cause a segmentation fault (and so a 500 server error) if used on PHP versions compiled with PCRE7 // preg_match_all($old_php_regex, $subject, $m); echo '<pre>';var_dump($m);echo '</pre>'; ?> ---- Server IP: 213.92.11.19 Probable Submitter: 151.75.184.30 ---- Manual Page -- http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.preg-match.php Edit -- https://master.php.net/note/edit/74542 Del: integrated -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/integrated Del: useless -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/useless Del: bad code -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/bad+code Del: spam -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/spam Del: non-english -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/non-english Del: in docs -- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542/in+docs Del: other reasons-- https://master.php.net/note/delete/74542 Reject -- https://master.php.net/note/reject/74542 Search -- https://master.php.net/manage/user-notes.php