[cocci] Searching for repeated source code with SmPL?

[Markus Elfring <Markus.Elfring@web.de>]

Hello,

Source code parts can occasionally be repeated.

* Loops
  The control flow can contain ordinary loops.

* Recursion
  A function may be called by itself.


Such constructs trigger special consequences also for further data processing
with higher level technologies.

+ Computation tree logic

+ Linear temporal logic


I am still looking for clarifications so that the Coccinelle software
can be applied in safer ways.


Regular expressions support some search operators for quantification.
A notation is accordingly supported for the specification of a minimum number
of matches which would be bigger than one item.

I imagine that such functionality would be helpful also for the semantic patch language.
How will the chances evolve to extend corresponding quantifiers anyhow?
https://gitlab.inria.fr/coccinelle/coccinelle/-/blob/23f7738a7881b02d016d278ee293cfd4a126fcab/docs/manual/cocci_syntax.tex#L793
https://github.com/coccinelle/coccinelle/blob/755250323b80f27701e78d325cc83509197b33b1/docs/manual/cocci_syntax.tex#L793

I would appreciate if multiple occurrences of code elements can be better detected
and transformed.

Regards,
Markus