Most metacharacters lose their special meaning inside lists. Finally, to include a literal - place it last. The period . The preceding item is optional and matched at most times. The preceding item is matched exactly n times.
Repetition takes precedence over concatenation, which in turn takes precedence over alternation.
A whole subex- pression may be enclosed in parentheses to override these precedence rules. This variable specifies default options to be placed in front of any explicit options. Option specifications are sepa- containing whitespace or a backslash. The locale is determined by the first of these variables that is set. The locale is deter- mined by the first of these variables that is set.