Short Long
L Letter
+ LC CasedLetter
Lu UppercaseLetter
Ll LowercaseLetter
Lt TitlecaseLetter
Single-letter properties match all characters in any of the
two-letter sub-properties starting with the same letter.
-C<L&> is a special case, which is an alias for C<Ll>, C<Lu>, and C<Lt>.
+C<LC> and C<L&> are special cases, which are aliases for the set of
+C<Ll>, C<Lu>, and C<Lt>.
Because Perl hides the need for the user to understand the internal
representation of Unicode characters, there is no need to implement
supported.
Because scripts differ in their directionality--Hebrew is
-written right to left, for example--Unicode supplies these properties:
+written right to left, for example--Unicode supplies these properties in
+the BidiClass class:
Property Meaning
- BidiL Left-to-Right
- BidiLRE Left-to-Right Embedding
- BidiLRO Left-to-Right Override
- BidiR Right-to-Left
- BidiAL Right-to-Left Arabic
- BidiRLE Right-to-Left Embedding
- BidiRLO Right-to-Left Override
- BidiPDF Pop Directional Format
- BidiEN European Number
- BidiES European Number Separator
- BidiET European Number Terminator
- BidiAN Arabic Number
- BidiCS Common Number Separator
- BidiNSM Non-Spacing Mark
- BidiBN Boundary Neutral
- BidiB Paragraph Separator
- BidiS Segment Separator
- BidiWS Whitespace
- BidiON Other Neutrals
-
-For example, C<\p{BidiR}> matches characters that are normally
+ L Left-to-Right
+ LRE Left-to-Right Embedding
+ LRO Left-to-Right Override
+ R Right-to-Left
+ AL Right-to-Left Arabic
+ RLE Right-to-Left Embedding
+ RLO Right-to-Left Override
+ PDF Pop Directional Format
+ EN European Number
+ ES European Number Separator
+ ET European Number Terminator
+ AN Arabic Number
+ CS Common Number Separator
+ NSM Non-Spacing Mark
+ BN Boundary Neutral
+ B Paragraph Separator
+ S Segment Separator
+ WS Whitespace
+ ON Other Neutrals
+
+For example, C<\p{BidiClass:R}> matches characters that are normally
written right to left.
=back
Most operators that deal with positions or lengths in a string will
automatically switch to using character positions, including
-C<chop()>, C<substr()>, C<pos()>, C<index()>, C<rindex()>,
+C<chop()>, C<chomp()>, C<substr()>, C<pos()>, C<index()>, C<rindex()>,
C<sprintf()>, C<write()>, and C<length()>. Operators that
specifically do not switch include C<vec()>, C<pack()>, and
-C<unpack()>. Operators that really don't care include C<chomp()>,
+C<unpack()>. Operators that really don't care include
operators that treats strings as a bucket of bits such as C<sort()>,
and operators dealing with filenames.
=head2 User-Defined Character Properties
You can define your own character properties by defining subroutines
-whose names begin with "In" or "Is". The subroutines must be defined
-in the C<main> package. The user-defined properties can be used in the
-regular expression C<\p> and C<\P> constructs. Note that the effect
-is compile-time and immutable once defined.
+whose names begin with "In" or "Is". The subroutines can be defined in
+any package. The user-defined properties can be used in the regular
+expression C<\p> and C<\P> constructs; if you are using a user-defined
+property from a package other than the one you are in, you must specify
+its package in the C<\p> or C<\P> construct.
+
+ # assuming property IsForeign defined in Lang::
+ package main; # property package name required
+ if ($txt =~ /\p{Lang::IsForeign}+/) { ... }
+
+ package Lang; # property package name not required
+ if ($txt =~ /\p{IsForeign}+/) { ... }
+
+
+Note that the effect is compile-time and immutable once defined.
The subroutines must return a specially-formatted string, with one
or more newline-separated lines. Each line must be one of the following:
=item *
Something to include, prefixed by "+": a built-in character
-property (prefixed by "utf8::"), to represent all the characters in that
-property; two hexadecimal code points for a range; or a single
-hexadecimal code point.
+property (prefixed by "utf8::") or a user-defined character property,
+to represent all the characters in that property; two hexadecimal code
+points for a range; or a single hexadecimal code point.
=item *
Something to exclude, prefixed by "-": an existing character
-property (prefixed by "utf8::"), for all the characters in that
-property; two hexadecimal code points for a range; or a single
-hexadecimal code point.
+property (prefixed by "utf8::") or a user-defined character property,
+to represent all the characters in that property; two hexadecimal code
+points for a range; or a single hexadecimal code point.
=item *
Something to negate, prefixed "!": an existing character
-property (prefixed by "utf8::") for all the characters except the
-characters in the property; two hexadecimal code points for a range;
-or a single hexadecimal code point.
+property (prefixed by "utf8::") or a user-defined character property,
+to represent all the characters in that property; two hexadecimal code
+points for a range; or a single hexadecimal code point.
+
+=item *
+
+Something to intersect with, prefixed by "&": an existing character
+property (prefixed by "utf8::") or a user-defined character property,
+for all the characters except the characters in the property; two
+hexadecimal code points for a range; or a single hexadecimal code point.
=back
END
}
+Intersection is useful for getting the common characters matched by
+two (or more) classes.
+
+ sub InFooAndBar {
+ return <<'END';
+ +main::Foo
+ &main::Bar
+ END
+ }
+
+It's important to remember not to use "&" for the first set -- that
+would be intersecting with nothing (resulting in an empty set).
+
You can also define your own mappings to be used in the lc(),
lcfirst(), uc(), and ucfirst() (or their string-inlined versions).
The principle is the same: define subroutines in the C<main> package
[ 1] \x{...}
[ 2] \N{...}
[ 3] . \p{...} \P{...}
- [ 4] now scripts (see UTR#24 Script Names) in addition to blocks
+ [ 4] support for scripts (see UTR#24 Script Names), blocks,
+ binary properties, enumerated non-binary properties, and
+ numeric properties (as listed in UTR#18 Other Properties)
[ 5] have negation
[ 6] can use regular expression look-ahead [a]
or user-defined character properties [b] to emulate subtraction