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(elisp)Char Classes

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Character Classes
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   Here is a table of the classes you can use in a character
alternative, in Emacs 21, and what they mean:

`[:ascii:]'
     This matches any ASCII (unibyte) character.

`[:alnum:]'
     This matches any letter or digit.  (At present, for multibyte
     characters, it matches anything that has word syntax.)

`[:alpha:]'
     This matches any letter.  (At present, for multibyte characters, it
     matches anything that has word syntax.)

`[:blank:]'
     This matches space and tab only.

`[:cntrl:]'
     This matches any ASCII control character.

`[:digit:]'
     This matches `0' through `9'.  Thus, `[-+[:digit:]]' matches any
     digit, as well as `+' and `-'.

`[:graph:]'
     This matches graphic characters--everything except ASCII control
     characters, space, and the delete character.

`[:lower:]'
     This matches any lower-case letter, as determined by the current
     case table (Note: Case Tables).

`[:nonascii:]'
     This matches any non-ASCII (multibyte) character.

`[:print:]'
     This matches printing characters--everything except ASCII control
     characters and the delete character.

`[:punct:]'
     This matches any punctuation character.  (At present, for multibyte
     characters, it matches anything that has non-word syntax.)

`[:space:]'
     This matches any character that has whitespace syntax (Note:
     Syntax Class Table).

`[:upper:]'
     This matches any upper-case letter, as determined by the current
     case table (Note: Case Tables).

`[:word:]'
     This matches any character that has word syntax (Note: Syntax
     Class Table).

`[:xdigit:]'
     This matches the hexadecimal digits: `0' through `9', `a' through
     `f' and `A' through `F'.