Wait a second ... I just thought of a counterexample that destroys the entire concept. Consider the pattern 'A__B', which clearly is supposed to match strings of four *characters*. With the proposed patch in place, it would match strings of four *bytes*. Which is not the correct behavior.
regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: if posting/reading through Usenet, please send an appropriate subscribe-nomail command to [EMAIL PROTECTED] so that your message can get through to the mailing list cleanly