Multiline match mode for regex managers

[satwell]

Tell us more.

Would it be possible for regex manager to use multi-line mode (the m flag for regular expressions) when applying the regular expressions in matchStrings? This would let users use ^ and $ to anchor to lines instead of the whole file.

It's handy for many syntaxes to match on line boundaries. E.g., to avoid matches in line-level comments. It's possible to get the same behavior by using (?:^|\r\n|\r|\n) to match line beginnings and (?:$|\r\n|\r|\n) to match line ends. But this makes the regexes much messier.

I think the behavior of ^ and $ only matching file beginning and end can trip up new users when trying to figure out this already complex feature (example). It certainly tripped me up, even though I'd read the docs where they say:

The regex manager matches are done per-file and not per-line, you should be aware when using the ^ and/or $ regex assertions.

I initially interpreted this as "we use multi-line mode so be aware that ^ and $ will match line boundaries within the file" because it seems like obviously desirable behavior, although I realize now that this was incorrect.

[satwell]

In the short term, I think clarification in the docs would be helpful. Instead of just telling users to "be aware when using ^ and/or $," I'd suggest saying something like this:

The regex manager matches are done per-file and not per-line. This means the ^ and $ regex assertions only match the beginning and end of the entire file. You can use (?:^|\r\n|\r|\n|$) if you need to match line boundaries.

I was about to submit a PR for the docs, but then realized I'd have to sign the CLA, which is not permitted by my employment contract.

[viceice]

provide it with a private account?

[risu729]

I also faced this issue, so opened a PR. Thanks for the workaround!