Philip Hazel wrote: > On Fri, 22 Jun 2007, Marc Perkel wrote:
>
>
>>> hosts = \N^.*\.yahoo\.\N
>>> hosts = \N^.*?\.yahoo\.\N
>>>
>>> The second is a bit more efficient when it matches (about the same when
>>> it doesn't).
>>>
>>>
>> Thanks for the tip Phil. Why is the second one more efficient?
>>
>
> Because it searches from the front instead of skipping all the way to
> the end and then searching backwards.
>
> I see what you're saying. But in this case the matching string I'm
looking for is usually on the end of the string. So in my case searching
backwards would be faster?