Re: can't be both non-capturing and still capture

srn(at)coolheads(dot)com writes:
> Here, the whole regexp is non-capturing, right, so how can the result be
> reported as shown?

No, the outer parens are non-capturing, but the ones inside them still
are capturing parens.

Perhaps it would clarify matters if you tried it with plain outer parens:

=# SELECT regexp_matches('abc01234xyz', '((.*?)(\d+)(.*)){1,1}');
regexp_matches
-----------------------------
{abc01234xyz,abc,01234,xyz}
(1 row)

In this case we get a report from each of the four sets of capturing
parens. Or another example:

=# SELECT regexp_matches('abc01234xyz', '((?:.*?)(\d+)(.*)){1,1}');
regexp_matches
-------------------------
{abc01234xyz,01234,xyz}
(1 row)

Outer parens capture, first inner set don't, other two inner sets do.

regards, tom lane