The OR operator (|) in the regex module

[werdl]

Describe the feature

To make the regex module PCRE compliant, or alternatively make the pcre module the default regex module.

Use Case

I am frustrated at the fact that, for example, int|float does not match int or float, rather it would match infloat, which seems to make little sense. I cannot see why this is useful, and a PCRE compliant regex module would be much more useful than having a special one for V.

Proposed Solution

Make the regex module PCRE compliant. This could be as simple as making the pcre module the default regex engine, by simply renaming it.

Other Information

If this isn't ideal, you could at least make it so that the OR operator works as it does in PCRE.

Acknowledgements

• I may be able to implement this feature request
• This feature might incur a breaking change

Version used

V full version: V 0.4.3 a2dabdd.fbb43f5

Environment details (OS name and version, etc.)

V full version: V 0.4.3 a2dabdd.fbb43f5
OS: linux, Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Processor: 12 cpus, 64bit, little endian, 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-11400F @ 2.60GHz

getwd: /home/werdl/coding/vcc
vexe: /home/werdl/coding/vcss/v/v
vexe mtime: 2023-11-12 16:16:21

vroot: OK, value: /home/werdl/coding/vcss/v
VMODULES: OK, value: /home/werdl/.vmodules
VTMP: OK, value: /tmp/v_1000

Git version: git version 2.39.2
Git vroot status: weekly.2023.44-117-gfbb43f5a (58 commit(s) behind V master)
.git/config present: true

CC version: cc (Debian 12.2.0-14) 12.2.0
thirdparty/tcc status: thirdparty-linux-amd64 12f392c3

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[Delta456]

We have a pcre regex module in V.

[penguindark]

V regex module was build to be a didactial very small regex.
Some design choices were done to achieve speed and simple code, other for simplify the code writing.
The regex OR was chosen different for two reason:

• have more simple regex expressions, use always the same "base" for regex (the symbol) instead of change base of expression in every operation is more coherent and understandable.
• The V regex OR implementation has not computational cost, the PCREs one is heavy.

Anyway, every contribute on the regex code is warmly welcomed.

P.S. regex: int|float => (int)|(float)