New regex: Find?

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Derek Parnell wrote:
> On Mon, 04 May 2009 10:09:56 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> 
>> dsimcha wrote:
>>> Is there an *efficient* way to simply test whether a given string contains a
>>> given regex in the new std.regex?  Using match() and testing for empty works,
>>> but this apparently triggers a bunch of unnecessary heap allocation.  If not,
>>> is this a universal enough feature to warrant an enhancement request?
>> If you only search once, there will be allocation. However, if you 
>> search for the same regex several times there will be no extra 
>> allocation so the cost will be amortized.
> 
> ranslation: No, there isn't "an *efficient* way".
> 

I think your translation omits important information. I meant exactly 
what I said: one isolated search can't be currently helped. Repeated 
searches can. This is because one search triggers the construction of a 
regex engine, which in turn allocates memory.

Andrei