Control ambiguous matches by using Longest:

Longest works with string patterns:

Use priorities to affect ambiguous choices:

Find the longest sequence of integers:

Consider the following variable length argument function:

Use Longest to express it as one pattern:

For expressions, when a pattern has consecutive sequences, the last one is effectively wrapped in Longest:

For string patterns, Longest provides "greedy" matches of all maximum-length matches:

For ordinary patterns, most patterns are effectively wrapped in Shortest:

String patterns are effectively wrapped in Longest:

Shortest[patt:def] first attempts the pattern using def and only then patt:

When Longest is combined with Optional, the order is reversed:

This is the default behavior when neither wrapper is used:

When there are additional constraints, Longest may not match the absolute longest sequence:

For string patterns, Longest will match all maximal substrings, not just the absolute longest substring:

Priorities are not supported in string expressions: