Multiplicity

[lamyergeier]

How 0 or 1 is different from 0 or 1, (non-greedy) ?

[remram44]

Non-greedy means that if they are multiple ways it can match, it will consume fewer characters rather than more characters. This usually only makes a difference when you're using captures, because otherwise you don't care how it matches.

Example (where +? is the non-greedy version of +):

• With input aaab
  • (a+)(.+) will return the groups aaa and b
  • The first + "greedily ate" all the a
  • (a+?)(.+) will return the groups a and aab
  • The first + only ate one a