new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/liboctave/regex-match.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2008 David Bateman
+
+This file is part of Octave.
+
+Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
+Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+*/
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <vector>
+#include <iostream>
+#include <string>
+
+#include "regex-match.h"
+#include "str-vec.h"
+
+regex_match& 
+regex_match::operator = (const regex_match& gm)
+{
+  if (this != &gm)
+    {
+#if HAVE_REGEX
+      for (int i = 0; i < pat.length (); i++)
+	regfree (compiled +i);
+      delete [] compiled;
+#endif
+      pat = gm.pat;
+      case_insen = gm.case_insen;
+      init ();
+    }
+  return *this;
+}
+
+regex_match::~regex_match (void)
+{
+#if HAVE_REGEX
+  for (int i = 0; i < pat.length (); i++)
+    regfree (compiled +i);
+  delete [] compiled;
+#endif
+}
+
+
+void 
+regex_match::set_pattern (const std::string& p) 
+{ 
+#if HAVE_REGEX
+  for (int i = 0; i < pat.length (); i++)
+    regfree (compiled +i);
+  delete [] compiled;
+#endif
+  pat = p; 
+  init ();
+}
+
+void 
+regex_match::set_pattern (const string_vector& p) 
+{ 
+#if HAVE_REGEX
+  for (int i = 0; i < pat.length (); i++)
+    regfree (compiled +i);
+  delete [] compiled;
+#endif
+  pat = p; 
+  init ();
+}
+
+void
+regex_match::init (void)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_REGEX
+  int npat = pat.length ();
+  int err;
+  int i;
+
+  compiled = new regex_t [npat];
+
+  for (i = 0; i < npat; i++)
+    if (err = regcomp (compiled + i, pat(i).c_str (), 
+		       (REG_NOSUB | REG_EXTENDED |
+			(case_insen ? REG_ICASE : 0))))
+      break;
+  
+  if (err)
+    {
+      int len = regerror(err, compiled + i, 0, 0);
+      OCTAVE_LOCAL_BUFFER (char, errmsg, len);
+      regerror(err, compiled + i, errmsg, len);
+      (*current_liboctave_error_handler) ("%s in pattern (%s)", errmsg, 
+					  pat(i).c_str());
+
+      for (int j = 0; j < i + 1; j++)
+	regfree(compiled + j);
+    }
+#else
+  (*current_liboctave_error_handler) 
+    ("regex not available in this version of Octave"); 
+#endif
+}
+
+bool
+regex_match::match (const std::string& s)
+{
+#if HAVE_REGEX
+  int npat = pat.length ();
+
+  const char *str = s.c_str ();
+
+  for (int i = 0; i < npat; i++)
+    if (regexec(compiled + i, str, 0, 0, 0) == 0) 
+      return true;
+#endif
+
+  return false;
+}
+
+Array<bool>
+regex_match::match (const string_vector& s)
+{
+  int n = s.length ();
+
+  Array<bool> retval (n);
+
+  for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
+    retval(i) = match (s[i]);
+
+  return retval;
+}
+
+
+/*
+;;; Local Variables: ***
+;;; mode: C++ ***
+;;; End: ***
+*/
+