macro blah a,b{
if a eq 12 or b eq 12
pass1 = 1
else
if a eq 34 or b eq 34
pass2 = 1
else
if a eq 56 or b eq 56
pass3 = 1
else
if a eq 78 or b eq 78
pass4 = 1
end if
}



blah 12,dword[34]
blah dword[56],78

if pass1 & pass2 & pass3 &pass4
display "success"
else
err "failure"
end if    

match any[address],b {
  if address=56
  ...
}    

match any[address],b { 
  if address=56 
end if
}    

match any[address],b { 
}    

match any[address],a { 
}    

match =any[address],b { 
}    

match address,any[b] { 
}    

macro blah a,b{ 
\match any[address],b { 
if address eq
else
test = address
end if
\}
} 

blah 12,dword[34] 
blah dword[56],78     

define something 55:6
match a:b, something  ; a=55, b=6

define something 2/3:5
match a/b, something  ; a=2 b=3:5 (yes more symbols, because it's at the end)

match a/b:c, something  ; a=2, b=3, c=5

match =2 / =3 a, something  ; a = 5, the 2 and 3 before are literal (i.e symbols, just like '/')

define something 3/3:5

; the match above WON'T MATCH now and will be ignored/skipped (because the literal '2' is replaced by a '3')

match a/=3:b, something  ; a=3, b=5

define something 3/4:5

match a/=3:b, something  ; WON'T MATCH
match a:=4:b, something  ; WON'T MATCH  (: instead of /)

; multiple symbols
define something 3:5/4:6

match a/b, something  ; a=3:5, b=4:6    

backslash goes before the '{', not before 'match'.

'test' is a CPU instruction.

What's so hard about how match works?

On the right of the comma, you put the thing you want matched (i.e a symbolic constant), on the left you put TOKENS.

Have you used any pattern matching language before? That would make it much easier to grasp.

You put symbols on the left that should match symbols on the right. Of course the '=' symbol can be used to match exact LITERAL symbols (like =example) and '==' the literal = symbol, also =, for the comma symbol.

Examples (spaces are, of course, just for clarity, they don't have any meaning):

Code:

define something 55:6
match a:b, something  ; a=55, b=6

define something 2/3:5
match a/b, something  ; a=2 b=3:5 (yes more symbols, because it's at the end)

match a/b:c, something  ; a=2, b=3, c=5

match =2 / =3 a, something  ; a = 5, the 2 and 3 before are literal (i.e symbols, just like '/')

define something 3/3:5

; the match above WON'T MATCH now and will be ignored/skipped (because the literal '2' is replaced by a '3')

match a/=3:b, something  ; a=3, b=5

define something 3/4:5

match a/=3:b, something  ; WON'T MATCH
match a:=4:b, something  ; WON'T MATCH  (: instead of /)

; multiple symbols
define something 3:5/4:6

match a/b, something  ; a=3:5, b=4:6    

clear enough?

I agree honestly. I almost feel as if someone should write a whole tutorial on match itself. Perhaps fasm should have a whole fasm macroinstructions tutorial.

But just out of curiosity.. how do you go about using match with something besides punctuation? Like, say, to match anything with the letters a, b, or c? And how do I define minimum/maximum characters to match?

match x : y, 555:222  ; x=555, y=222

match x =symbol y, 555 symbol 222  ; x=555, y=222  (this uses a 'literal' symbol called 'symbol' as you can see )

match x =a y, 555 a 222  ; x=555, y=222

match x =a y, 555 b 222  ; DOESN'T MATCH because THERE'S NO 'a' SYMBOL to be found.    

([^:]+): (.+)  ; same as the first match, but you access x with $1 and y with $2

((?:.(?!symbol))+)symbol(.+)  ; same as second match, etc...    

kohlrak wrote:

I agree honestly. I almost feel as if someone should write a whole tutorial on match itself. Perhaps fasm should have a whole fasm macroinstructions tutorial.

This Understanding fasm was intended to cover all those topics, however I haven't got into it yet. Perhaps the next year.

And before I finish that document, you may find some advanced explanations on "match" directive in this thread:
Better explanation of the match directive.

Azu wrote:

But just out of curiosity.. how do you go about using match with something besides punctuation? Like, say, to match anything with the letters a, b, or c? And how do I define minimum/maximum characters to match?

First of all, match matches only symbols. Symbols are stuff like : + - / and you can use literal symbols (using = before) but you'll need a space to separate the symbol obviously.

Basically it works like pattern matching in Perl, where any non-symbol (i.e a variable you use for match to access it later) is treated as "any sequence of characters UNTIL the symbol after it is found". There's a similar thing in the NT Command Prompt in FOR /F where you use "tokens" to separate such 'variables' (by definition the tokens are symbols in the exact same way).

If you want to get all the chars to the left of a ':' and use them, use match. If you want to get all the chars between two symbols (and access them as variable), use match.

Example:

Code:

match x : y, 555:222  ; x=555, y=222

match x =symbol y, 555 symbol 222  ; x=555, y=222  (this uses a 'literal' symbol called 'symbol' as you can see )

match x =a y, 555 a 222  ; x=555, y=222

match x =a y, 555 b 222  ; DOESN'T MATCH because THERE'S NO 'a' SYMBOL to be found.    

In Perl you would do:

Code:

([^:]+): (.+)  ; same as the first match, but you access x with $1 and y with $2

((?:.(?!symbol))+)symbol(.+)  ; same as second match, etc...    

basically that says "get all chars until we find the symbol and put it into $1 (or the respective var/constant in match), then get the remaining (or alternatively, if more symbols, get other chars).

If it doesn't match then it is skipped.

define found
rept 5 n:0
{
  match =n, something
  \{
    restore found
    define found +
  \}
}
match +,found
{
  ; it was a number
}
restore found    

anyone got a better solution?

(it's obvious the above checks only for the numbers 0...5