(a?)^na^n matching to a^n, cpp

#include "stdafx.h"
#include <string>
#include <regex>
#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>

bool match_an(int n){
    char *theRegexString = new char[3 * n + 1];
    char *theText = new char[n + 1];
    char* ptr = theRegexString;
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++){
        *(ptr++) = 'a';
        *(ptr++) = '?';
    }
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        *(ptr++) = 'a'; theText[i] = 'a';
    }
    *ptr = 0; theText[n] = 0;

    clock_t t = clock();

    std::regex theRegex(theRegexString,std::regex::optimize|std::regex::ECMAScript);
    std::smatch theMatch;
    std::string theTextString(theText);
    bool ret = std::regex_match(theTextString, theMatch, theRegex);
    t = clock() - t;
    std::cout << "Matching (a?)^na^n on a^n for n = " << n << " we get a " << ret << " in " << ((float)t) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC << " seconds." << std::endl;
    return ret;
}

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    for (int i = 1; i < 30; i++){
        match_an(i);
    }
    return 0;
}