This should be a relatively simple question, but I've been completely unable to find an answer after much searching, so I apologize if the answer is obvious.

If I have a PCRE with a subpattern, for example: 
/(\d\s+foo)/

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I know that I can repeat that subpattern easily with reptition quantifiers, i.e. 
/(\d\s+foo){1,3}/

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and that I can force a repeat of what had been matched, even after intervening characters, like this: 
/(\d\s+foo)[^\r\n]*\1/

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however, I don't know if it's possible to repeat the conditions imposed by the subpattern (i.e. have a second occurance of the subpattern without spelling it all the way out). Is there a way of taking, say, 
/(\d\s+foo)[^\r\n]*(\d\s+foo)/

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and representing the second, identical subpattern with some symbol/metacharacter? I know that, in terms of pure functionality, such a distinction would be irrelevant, but frankly the redundancy wounds my sense of Perl beauty, and thus I'd prefer a cleaner, nicer way to do this. :-)

Also, if such a method does exist, is it equally valid for named subpatterns?

Thank You,
Alex Kirk

In reply to PCRE: Repeating Subpattens After Intervening Characters by schnarff

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