+@c Copyright (C) 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
+@c Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+@c
+@c Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
+@c under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
+@c any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
+@c Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
+@c Texts. A copy of the license is included in the ``GNU Free
+@c Documentation License'' file as part of this distribution.
+
+@c this regular expression description is for: generic
+
@menu
* awk regular expression syntax::
* egrep regular expression syntax::
@item At the end of a regular expression
-@item Before an close-group, signified by
+@item Before a close-group, signified by
@samp{\)}
@item Before the alternation operator @samp{\|}
@item At the end of a regular expression
-@item Before an close-group, signified by
+@item Before a close-group, signified by
@samp{\)}
@item Before the alternation operator @samp{\|}
@item At the end of a regular expression
-@item Before an close-group, signified by
+@item Before a close-group, signified by
@samp{\)}
@item Before a newline
The characters @samp{^} and @samp{$} always represent the beginning and end of a string respectively, except within square brackets. Within brackets, @samp{^} can be used to invert the membership of the character class being specified.
-@samp{*}, @samp{+} and @samp{?} are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are illegal:
+@samp{*}, @samp{+} and @samp{?} are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are not allowed:
@enumerate
@item At the beginning of a regular expression
The characters @samp{^} and @samp{$} always represent the beginning and end of a string respectively, except within square brackets. Within brackets, @samp{^} can be used to invert the membership of the character class being specified.
-@samp{*}, @samp{+} and @samp{?} are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are illegal:
+@samp{*}, @samp{+} and @samp{?} are special at any point in a regular expression except the following places, where they are not allowed:
@enumerate
@item At the beginning of a regular expression
@item At the end of a regular expression
-@item Before an close-group, signified by
+@item Before a close-group, signified by
@samp{\)}
@end enumerate