You can think of the pattern as a state machine. It scans forward in the input until the first match in the pattern. In this case the first match is the first "a" in the input so that's where the match starts. The rest of the pattern tells it how far to extend the match, through the next "b".
After the first match if you do Find Again you'll get the next match starting from the end of the current selection. [fletcher] > On Dec 19, 2019, at 10:25 AM, Howard Rosenberg <leadwithlo...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Sam, > > Why does the pattern .*?b only match aaab and not aab? Isn’t aab the shortest > string possible? > > Howard > On Dec 19, 2019, 1:17 PM -0500, bbedit@googlegroups.com, wrote: >> >> The pattern .*b will match aaabaab, while the pattern .*?b will match aaab. > > > -- > This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a > feature request or need technical support, please email > "supp...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group. > Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <https://twitter.com/bbedit > <https://twitter.com/bbedit>> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "BBEdit Talk" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to bbedit+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:bbedit+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/3bd69852-6b94-4853-8ea5-f769861c5902%40Spark > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/3bd69852-6b94-4853-8ea5-f769861c5902%40Spark?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a feature request or need technical support, please email "supp...@barebones.com" rather than posting to the group. Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <https://twitter.com/bbedit> --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "BBEdit Talk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bbedit+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/ED636C2B-99F4-4734-97D0-E6877E513C86%40cumuli.com.
