"David W. Tamkin" <dattier(_at_)Mcs(_dot_)Net> writes:
Philip Guenther wrote,
| Actually, \< and \> are internally treated as shortcuts for the
| character class [^a-zA-Z0-9_] ...
Aren't they equivalent to ([^a-zA-Z0-9]|$) ?
<grimace>
Yes.
Character classes, inverted or otherwise, cannot normally match
newlines. However, procmail cheats with \< and will actually match a
newline with the internal character class that it generates, rather
than having to use an alternation. \< is therefore slightly faster
to match than the equivalent ([^a-zA-Z0-9]|$).
Philip Guenther