Function list doesn't detect C functions that have function pointers in the argument list

bri235445

This valid C function is not included in the list:
void A( void( *call )( void ) )
{

}

And this one is:
void B( void )
{

}

There is a file functionList.xml that contains regex rules but the regex is already very long, I lack the knowledge to change it correctly.

Anyone have any idea how to solve this, any C programmers having the same problem?

Edit:

Or this variant also isn’t detected:
void C( int (*s)[10] )
{

}

Ricardo

Hello,
I’m also not good in regex, but I think here’s the problem:

	<function
	    mainExpr="^[\t ]*((static|const|virtual)[\s]+)?[\w]+([\s]+[\w]+)?([\s]+|\*[\s]+|[\s]+\*|[\s]+\*[\s]+)([\w_]+[\s]*::)?(?!(if|while|for))[\w_]+[\s]*\([^\)\(]*\)([\s]*const[\s]*)?[\n\s]*\{"

Imo, the bad part is this: \([^\)\(]*\)
It means:

\( matches the character ( literally

[^\)\(]* match a single character not present below (* Between zero and unlimited times)
    \) matches the character ) literally
    \( matches the character ( literally

\) matches the character ) literally

But… I tried modifying with \((.*)\) so it matches anything inside parens, but it does not work in Np++…

I also would like to know a solution.

guy038

Hello bri235445, Ricardo, and All,

Ricardo, you’re right ! the problem comes from the expression [^\)\(]* that means any sequence, even empty, of characters, different from round brackets

To match the special case of bri235445 void A( void( *call )( void ) ), I changed that previous class character into [\S ]*

Remember that the syntax \s is equivalent to the syntax [\t\n\x0B\f\r\x20\xA0]

=> The syntax \S, with the uppercase letter s, means [^\t\n\x0B\f\r\x20\xA0]

So, my regex [\S ]* matches any sequence, even empty, of a NON blank character OR a space

Then, knowing that :

The syntax \w does match the underscore _
The syntax [\s] can be simplified in \s

=> The mainExpr regex of the C parser, with my modification, could be simplified in :


^[\t ]*((static|const|virtual)\s+)?[\w:]+(\s+\w+)?(\s+|\*\s+|\s+\*|\s+\*\s+)(\w+\s*::)?(?!(if|while|for))\w+\s*\([\S ]*\)(\s*const\s*)?\s*\{

Thus, bri235445 :

Do a backup copy of the functionList.xml file
Open the functionList.xml file, in N++
Change, between the double quotes, the mainExpr regex, of the c_function parser, with the regex just above
Save the modifications. Then close and restart N++

=> You should notice that you get the functions A and B in the Function List panel, with your text, in C language, that follows :

void B( void )
{

}

void A( void( *call )( void ) )
{

}

I tested with a portable v6.7.9.2 version and everything works fine :-)

Best Regards,

guy038

P.S. :

Ricardo, your modification (.*) was nearly good :-)

But it’s very important to remember that the Function List behaves, by default, as the DOT stands for ANY character, even the End of Line characters !

So, to restrict the matches of a dot to standard characters, only, the right syntax should be (?-s).*. I just suppress the round brackets, surrounding .*, as we don’t need any back-reference \1

It passes the test, too. However, I think that the syntax [\S ]*, being more restrictive, should be preferred

bri235445

@guy038

Thank you for your reply. Your version does seem to work.

Maybe this change could be added to future versions of Notepad++? Implementers should consider that C++ can have the same function definition thus that regex should be changed as well.

guy038

Hello bri235445 and Ricardo,

The most important thing is that my regex version doesn’t break anything else !!

As you’re certainly more acquainted with C/C++ programs than me, it shouldn’t be very difficult, to you, to detect any additional problem :-)

Cheers,

guy038

bri235445

@guy038

It is hard to test for false positives. Thus far I haven’t seen any.

I have found an example that is a valid C function but it isn’t detected by your regex:

void ( *complicated( int a , void( *f )( int ) ) ) ( int )
{
void( *b )( int ) = NULL ;
return b ;
}

This is a function taking an int and a pointer to a function taking an int and returning nothing, returning a pointer to a function taking an int and returning nothing.

This is not a common occurrence and actually writing such code is obnoxious. Nevertheless, can you make this work? :-)

guy038

Hello bri235445,

I intend to learn C/C++ language, someday. But, I presently know very few, about these languages !

However, in your previous post, didn’t you forget the name of the function ? I mean something like :

void D( *complicated( int a ,...., instead of void( *complicated( int a ,....

In case of a negative answer, can you tell me what name the functionList should return, in that specific case ?

Regards,

guy038

bri235445

@guy038

The name of the function is complicated, so functionList should return complicated as the name.

You can see it in action here:https://ideone.com/SmDmCF

It doesn’t do anything useful since it is an example.

Here is another example:

float ( *GetPointer( int a ) )[10]
{
( void )a ;
return NULL ;
}

This is a function named GetPointer, taking an int and returning a pointer to an array of 10 float.
You can see it working here: https://ideone.com/Sxn8WQ