backreference
backreference noun: an item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression.
Noun
backreference (plural backreferences)
- An item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression.
- The third part of the regular expression, \1, is the backreference and tells ColdFusion to refer back to the first subexpression[…]2003, Rob Brooks-Bilson, Programming ColdFusion MX
- Path traversal occurs when directory backreferences are used in a path to gain access to the parent folder of a subfolder.2005, Ivan Ristic, Apache security
Verb
backreference (third-person singular simple present backreferences, present participle backreferencing, simple past and past participle backreferenced)
- To access (the text matched by an earlier pattern in a regular expression).
- By wrapping it in parentheses, the attributes can be reused by backreferencing this part of the pattern[…]2009, Larry Ullman, Ruby: Visual QuickStart Guide, page 237
- It doesn't change what the part matches, so /\d+/ and /(\d+)/ will still match as many digits as possible, but in the latter case they will be remembered in a special variable to be backreferenced later.2012, Tom Christiansen, brian d foy^([sic]), Larry Wall, Programming Perl, page 46
Forms of backreference
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | backreferences |
| alternative form | back-reference |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | backreferences |
| present participle | backreferencing |
| past participle | backreferenced |
| past | backreferenced |
Origin of backreference
From back + reference.
Questions about backreference
- What does backreference mean?
- Backreference means an item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression.
- What part of speech is backreference?
- Backreference can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of backreference?
- The plural of backreference is backreferences.
Words near backreference in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: backreference (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-backreference.oga.
Cite this entry: “backreference.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backreference. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.