"backreference" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "reference"
      },
      "expansion": "back + reference",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From back + reference.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backreferences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backreference (plural backreferences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Regular expressions",
          "orig": "en:Regular expressions",
          "parents": [
            "Computing",
            "Programming",
            "Technology",
            "Software engineering",
            "All topics",
            "Computer science",
            "Engineering",
            "Software",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Media",
            "Communication"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Rob Brooks-Bilson, Programming ColdFusion MX:",
          "text": "The third part of the regular expression, \\1, is the backreference and tells ColdFusion to refer back to the first subexpression[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Ivan Ristic, Apache security:",
          "text": "Path traversal occurs when directory backreferences are used in a path to gain access to the parent folder of a subfolder.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression."
      ],
      "id": "en-backreference-en-noun-jRlprhRd",
      "links": [
        [
          "regular expression",
          "regular expression"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "regular expressions",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regular expressions) An item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "back-reference"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backreference"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "reference"
      },
      "expansion": "back + reference",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From back + reference.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backreferences",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferencing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferenced",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferenced",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backreference (third-person singular simple present backreferences, present participle backreferencing, simple past and past participle backreferenced)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Regular expressions",
          "orig": "en:Regular expressions",
          "parents": [
            "Computing",
            "Programming",
            "Technology",
            "Software engineering",
            "All topics",
            "Computer science",
            "Engineering",
            "Software",
            "Fundamental",
            "Sciences",
            "Applied sciences",
            "Media",
            "Communication"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "31 69",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "32 68",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, Larry Ullman, Ruby: Visual QuickStart Guide, page 237:",
          "text": "By wrapping it in parentheses, the attributes can be reused by backreferencing this part of the pattern[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Tom Christiansen, brian d foy^([sic]), Larry Wall, Programming Perl, page 46:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To access (the text matched by an earlier pattern in a regular expression)."
      ],
      "id": "en-backreference-en-verb-51TQvmhz",
      "links": [
        [
          "regular expression",
          "regular expression"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "regular expressions",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regular expressions, transitive) To access (the text matched by an earlier pattern in a regular expression)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "back-reference"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backreference"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "reference"
      },
      "expansion": "back + reference",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From back + reference.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backreferences",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backreference (plural backreferences)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Regular expressions"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2003, Rob Brooks-Bilson, Programming ColdFusion MX:",
          "text": "The third part of the regular expression, \\1, is the backreference and tells ColdFusion to refer back to the first subexpression[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Ivan Ristic, Apache security:",
          "text": "Path traversal occurs when directory backreferences are used in a path to gain access to the parent folder of a subfolder.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "regular expression",
          "regular expression"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "regular expressions",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regular expressions) An item in a regular expression equivalent to the text matched by an earlier pattern in the expression."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "back-reference"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backreference"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "back",
        "3": "reference"
      },
      "expansion": "back + reference",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From back + reference.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "backreferences",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferencing",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferenced",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "backreferenced",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "backreference (third-person singular simple present backreferences, present participle backreferencing, simple past and past participle backreferenced)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Regular expressions"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009, Larry Ullman, Ruby: Visual QuickStart Guide, page 237:",
          "text": "By wrapping it in parentheses, the attributes can be reused by backreferencing this part of the pattern[…]",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Tom Christiansen, brian d foy^([sic]), Larry Wall, Programming Perl, page 46:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To access (the text matched by an earlier pattern in a regular expression)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "regular expression",
          "regular expression"
        ],
        [
          "pattern",
          "pattern"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "regular expressions",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(regular expressions, transitive) To access (the text matched by an earlier pattern in a regular expression)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "back-reference"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backreference"
}