Hi,
in regexps, there are \<, \> and also \b sequences, that match zero-length string on the word boundary. They are particularly useful for e.g.: refactoring substitutions, like e.g.: with sed:
sed -r -i -e 's/\<myvar\>/other/'
This automatically protects pre/suffixed strings like str_myvar and myvar_str. In mcedit, I often use \b that's available there (\< and \> do not work), to obtain the same effect with the regex:
\bmyvat\b
I'm not sure if distinction of left and right boundary offered by \<, \> actually makes a difference.
Zsh has similar sequences already - (#s) and (#e). They do match 0=length strings on begin or end of the matched string. So maybe the topic is known to any implementing person? Is it hard to add such \b or \<,\> sequences? Could it be also possible to make it backward-safe, i.e. the sequence be ignored by proceeding Zsh versions?
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Best regards,
Sebastian Gniazdowski