2.4. Search patterns

Search patterns and buffer filters are closely related. Both are used to limit the amount of data you must wade through to locate the data you are interested in.

While buffer filters prevent you from seeing buffers that don't match the filter criterion, search patterns enable you to locate patterns in buffers that have matched the filter. Search strings can be either textual or bit patterns. Search patterns are established with the Filter->Search... command, and once established, can be executed again using the Filter->Next command.

Text search patterns can search for exact string matches in the data that is displayed by bufdump. They can also match regular expressions. A regular expression is a string that can itself specify a wide variety of matching conditions. The syntax of regular expressions is powerful and complex. A discussion of regular expression syntax is beyond the scope of this manual. Look at either the unix man page regex(7), or Tcl book sections describing the regexp Tcl command for more information about the structure of regular expressions.

Bit pattern searches can be a collectionof bit patterns, any of which may cause a match or a sequence of bit patterns, all of which must be matched in the order specified.