Implement Perl extended character classes

HACKING

@@ -199,9 +199,11 @@ META_RANGE_ESCAPED    hyphen in class range with at least one escape
 META_RANGE_LITERAL    hyphen in class range defined literally
 META_SKIP             (*SKIP) - no argument (see below for with argument)
 META_THEN             (*THEN) - no argument (see below for with argument)
-META_ECLASS_OR        || in an extended character class
-META_ECLASS_AND       && in an extended character class
-META_ECLASS_SUB       -- in an extended character class
+META_ECLASS_AND       && (or &) in an extended character class
+META_ECLASS_OR        || (or |, +) in an extended character class
+META_ECLASS_SUB       -- (or -) in an extended character class
+META_ECLASS_XOR       ~~ (or ^) in an extended character class
+META_ECLASS_NOT       ! in an extended character class
 
 The two RANGE values occur only in character classes. They are positioned
 between two literals that define the start and end of the range. In an EBCDIC

doc/pcre2pattern.3

@@ -1547,6 +1547,39 @@ the next two sections), and the terminating closing square bracket. However,
 escaping other non-alphanumeric characters does no harm.
 .
 .
+.SH "PERL EXTENDED CHARACTER CLASSES"
+.rs
+PCRE2 supports Perl's "(?[...])" extended character class syntax. This can
+be used to perform set operations, such intersection.
+.P
+The syntax permitted within "(?[...])" is quite different to ordinary character
+classes. Inside the extended class, there is an expression syntax consisting of
+"atoms", operators, and ordinary parentheses "()" used for grouping. The allowed
+atoms are any escaped characters or sets such as "\en" or "\ed", POSIX classes
+such as "[:alpha:]", and any ordinary character class may be nested as an atom
+within an extended class. For example, in "(?[\ed & [...]])" the nested ordinary
+class "[...]" follows the ordinary rules for character classes, in which
+parentheses are not metacharacters, and character literals and ranges are
+permitted. However, when outside an ordinary character class (such as in "(?[...
++ (...)])") character literals and ranges may not be used, as they are not atoms
+in the extended syntax. The extended syntax does not introduce any additional
+escape sequences, so "(?[\ey])" is an unknown escape, as it would be inside
+"[\ey]".
+.P
+In the extended syntax, ^ does not negate a class (except within an
+ordinary class nested inside an extended class); it is instead a binary
+operator.
+.P
+The binary operators are "&" (intersection), "|" or "+" (union), "-"
+(subtraction) and "^" (symmetric difference). These are left-associative and
+"&" has higher (tighter) precedence, while the others have equal lower
+precedence. The one prefix unary operator is "!" (complement), with highest
+precedence.
+.P
+A Perl extended character class always has the /xx modifier turned on within
+it.
+.
+.
 .SH "UTS#18 EXTENDED CHARACTER CLASSES"
 .rs
 The PCRE2_ALT_EXTENDED_CLASS option enables an alternative to Perl's "(?[...])"
@@ -1560,18 +1593,19 @@ character becomes an additional metacharacter within classes, denoting the start
 of a nested class, so a literal "[" must be escaped as "\e[".
 .P
 Secondly, within the UTS#18 extended syntax, there are additional operators
-"||", "&&" and "--" which denote character class union, intersection, and
-subtraction respectively. In standard Perl syntax, these would simply be
-needlessly-repeated literals (except for "-" which can denote a range). These
-operators can be used in constructs such as "[\ep{L}--[QW]]" for "Unicode
-letters, other than Q and W". A literal "-" at the end of a range must be
-escaped (so while "[--1]" in Perl syntax is the range from hyphen to "1", it
-must be escaped as "[\e--1]" in UTS#18 extended classes).
+"||", "&&", "--" and "~~" which denote character class union, intersection,
+subtraction, and symmetric difference respectively. In standard Perl syntax,
+these would simply be needlessly-repeated literals (except for "-" which can
+denote a range). These operators can be used in constructs such as
+"[\ep{L}--[QW]]" for "Unicode letters, other than Q and W". A literal "-" at
+the end of a range must be escaped (so while "[--1]" in Perl syntax is the
+range from hyphen to "1", it must be escaped as "[\e--1]" in UTS#18 extended
+classes).
 .P
 The specific rules in PCRE2 are that classes can be nested:
 "[...[B]...[^C]...]". The individual class items (literal characters, literal
 ranges, properties such as \ed or \ep{...}, and nested classes) can be
-combined by juxtaposition or by an operator "||", "&&", or "--".
+combined by juxtaposition or by an operator "||", "&&", "--", or "~~".
 Juxtaposition is the implicit union operator, and binds more tightly than any
 explicit operator. Precedence between the explicit operators is not defined,
 so mixing operators is a syntax error (thus "[A&&B--C]" is an error, but

src/pcre2.h.generic

@@ -339,6 +339,10 @@ pcre2_pattern_convert(). */
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_EXPECTED_OPERAND        210
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_MIXED_OPERATORS         211
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_HINT_SQUARE_BRACKET     212
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_UNEXPECTED_EXPR    213
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_EMPTY_EXPR         214
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_MISSING_CLOSE      215
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_UNEXPECTED_CHAR    216
 
 /* "Expected" matching error codes: no match and partial match. */
 

src/pcre2.h.in

@@ -339,6 +339,10 @@ pcre2_pattern_convert(). */
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_EXPECTED_OPERAND        210
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_MIXED_OPERATORS         211
 #define PCRE2_ERROR_ECLASS_HINT_SQUARE_BRACKET     212
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_UNEXPECTED_EXPR    213
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_EMPTY_EXPR         214
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_MISSING_CLOSE      215
+#define PCRE2_ERROR_PERL_ECLASS_UNEXPECTED_CHAR    216
 
 /* "Expected" matching error codes: no match and partial match. */