What is a "topic" of a string in the Match Pattern function?

[Jim Kring]

The Special Characters for Match Pattern documentation states:

If ^ is the first character of regular expression, it anchors the match to the offset in string. The match fails unless regular expression matches that topic of string that begins with the character at offset. If ^ is not the first character, it is treated as a regular character.

What does "topic" mean in the above definition. I don't see any other reference to "topic" in the documentation. Does this relate to the algorithm used by the Match Pattern function? Is "topic" a subset of the string?

[Mike Ashe]

I could easily be wrong, but methinks tis a case of half hatched explaination by the documentation team.

There are some references on the net to regular expression search and replace functions as they pertain to forums and the S&R functions are referred to as applying to strings or topics of strings. Methinks when the LV Match Pattern and regular expression algorithms and docs were made that some of it was lifted from such sources and the doc's didn't get washed properly.

But I could be wrong...

[Jim Kring]

Mike: That could be it. FYI -- I've pinged some people at NI about this, too. Hopefully we'll hear back soon.

[Darren]

Hi Jim,

The word "topic" in the documentation you reference is simply a misprint. Replace "topic" in that sentence with "portion" and you'll have the correct description of the '^' character.

Sorry for the anticlimactic response...I'll bet you were all ready with a conspiracy theory.

-D

P.S. - I have filed a CAR (3VLDERF2) against the LV documentation to get this corrected.

[Jim Kring]

Darren: Thanks you for the answer, extra effort, and CAR number. Five more stars, for you