No match. Correct, as you didn't reset PARTIAL.
> || pcre_dfa_exec data3 -1
> || ovector [0] = 4
> || ovector [1] = 11
Ditto.
> Thus a partial match start at data1 pos "abc" is found as expected.
> However the second alternative choice (c.*x) should finally match,
> but does not. Is this a limitation of the implementation?
Yes. After a partial match, the only possibility is to complete that
match, or to fail. As it no longer has access to the earlier data, it
cannot "step on" characters to try an alternative starting at a
different position.
> Eg adding the final x to data1 like this:
> char * data1 = " XX abc zz x";
>
> makes the code print:
>
> || ovector [0] = 4
> || ovector [1] = 13
> and the char after x is position 13.
> So the engine can cope with it.
No, that has just swallowed some more characters in the partial match.
This problem can be avoided if you use pcre_exec() rather than the
RESTART facility of pcre_dfa_exec(). There are some notes on this in the
pcrepartial man page. It's a bit messy, but it should be possible.
