trunk/doc/pcrebuild.3

.TH PCRE 3
.SH NAME
PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
.SH PCRE BUILD-TIME OPTIONS
.rs
.sp
This document describes the optional features of PCRE that can be selected when
the library is compiled. They are all selected, or deselected, by providing
options to the \fBconfigure\fR script which is run before the \fBmake\fR
command. The complete list of options for \fBconfigure\fR (which includes the
standard ones such as the selection of the installation directory) can be
obtained by running

  ./configure --help

The following sections describe certain options whose names begin with --enable
or --disable. These settings specify changes to the defaults for the
\fBconfigure\fR command. Because of the way that \fBconfigure\fR works,
--enable and --disable always come in pairs, so the complementary option always
exists as well, but as it specifies the default, it is not described.

.SH UTF-8 SUPPORT
.rs
.sp
To build PCRE with support for UTF-8 character strings, add

  --enable-utf8

to the \fBconfigure\fR command. Of itself, this does not make PCRE treat
strings as UTF-8. As well as compiling PCRE with this option, you also have
have to set the PCRE_UTF8 option when you call the \fBpcre_compile()\fR
function.

.SH CODE VALUE OF NEWLINE
.rs
.sp
By default, PCRE treats character 10 (linefeed) as the newline character. This
is the normal newline character on Unix-like systems. You can compile PCRE to
use character 13 (carriage return) instead by adding

  --enable-newline-is-cr

to the \fBconfigure\fR command. For completeness there is also a
--enable-newline-is-lf option, which explicitly specifies linefeed as the
newline character.

.SH BUILDING SHARED AND STATIC LIBRARIES
.rs
.sp
The PCRE building process uses \fBlibtool\fR to build both shared and static
Unix libraries by default. You can suppress one of these by adding one of

  --disable-shared
  --disable-static

to the \fBconfigure\fR command, as required.

.SH POSIX MALLOC USAGE
.rs
.sp
When PCRE is called through the POSIX interface (see the \fBpcreposix\fR
documentation), additional working storage is required for holding the pointers
to capturing substrings because PCRE requires three integers per substring,
whereas the POSIX interface provides only two. If the number of expected
substrings is small, the wrapper function uses space on the stack, because this
is faster than using \fBmalloc()\fR for each call. The default threshold above
which the stack is no longer used is 10; it can be changed by adding a setting
such as

  --with-posix-malloc-threshold=20

to the \fBconfigure\fR command.

.SH LIMITING PCRE RESOURCE USAGE
.rs
.sp
Internally, PCRE has a function called \fBmatch()\fR which it calls repeatedly
(possibly recursively) when performing a matching operation. By limiting the
number of times this function may be called, a limit can be placed on the
resources used by a single call to \fBpcre_exec()\fR. The limit can be changed
at run time, as described in the \fBpcreapi\fR documentation. The default is 10
million, but this can be changed by adding a setting such as

  --with-match-limit=500000

to the \fBconfigure\fR command.

.SH HANDLING VERY LARGE PATTERNS
.rs
.sp
Within a compiled pattern, offset values are used to point from one part to
another (for example, from an opening parenthesis to an alternation
metacharacter). By default two-byte values are used for these offsets, leading
to a maximum size for a compiled pattern of around 64K. This is sufficient to
handle all but the most gigantic patterns. Nevertheless, some people do want to
process enormous patterns, so it is possible to compile PCRE to use three-byte
or four-byte offsets by adding a setting such as

  --with-link-size=3

to the \fBconfigure\fR command. The value given must be 2, 3, or 4. Using
longer offsets slows down the operation of PCRE because it has to load
additional bytes when handling them.

If you build PCRE with an increased link size, test 2 (and test 5 if you are
using UTF-8) will fail. Part of the output of these tests is a representation
of the compiled pattern, and this changes with the link size.

.SH AVOIDING EXCESSIVE STACK USAGE
.rs
.sp
PCRE implements backtracking while matching by making recursive calls to an
internal function called \fBmatch()\fR. In environments where the size of the
stack is limited, this can severely limit PCRE's operation. (The Unix
environment does not usually suffer from this problem.) An alternative approach
that uses memory from the heap to remember data, instead of using recursive
function calls, has been implemented to work round this problem. If you want to
build a version of PCRE that works this way, add

  --disable-stack-for-recursion

to the \fBconfigure\fR command. With this configuration, PCRE will use the
\fBpcre_stack_malloc\fR and \fBpcre_stack_free\fR variables to call memory
management functions. Separate functions are provided because the usage is very
predictable: the block sizes requested are always the same, and the blocks are
always freed in reverse order. A calling program might be able to implement
optimized functions that perform better than the standard \fBmalloc()\fR and
\fBfree()\fR functions. PCRE runs noticeably more slowly when built in this
way.

.SH USING EBCDIC CODE
.rs
.sp
PCRE assumes by default that it will run in an environment where the character
code is ASCII (or UTF-8, which is a superset of ASCII). PCRE can, however, be
compiled to run in an EBCDIC environment by adding

  --enable-ebcdic

to the \fBconfigure\fR command.

.in 0
Last updated: 09 December 2003
.br
Copyright (c) 1997-2003 University of Cambridge.
1	.TH PCRE 3
2	.SH NAME
3	PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions
4	.SH PCRE BUILD-TIME OPTIONS
5	.rs
6	.sp
7	This document describes the optional features of PCRE that can be selected when
8	the library is compiled. They are all selected, or deselected, by providing
9	options to the \fBconfigure\fR script which is run before the \fBmake\fR
10	command. The complete list of options for \fBconfigure\fR (which includes the
11	standard ones such as the selection of the installation directory) can be
12	obtained by running
13
14	./configure --help
15
16	The following sections describe certain options whose names begin with --enable
17	or --disable. These settings specify changes to the defaults for the
18	\fBconfigure\fR command. Because of the way that \fBconfigure\fR works,
19	--enable and --disable always come in pairs, so the complementary option always
20	exists as well, but as it specifies the default, it is not described.
21
22	.SH UTF-8 SUPPORT
23	.rs
24	.sp
25	To build PCRE with support for UTF-8 character strings, add
26
27	--enable-utf8
28
29	to the \fBconfigure\fR command. Of itself, this does not make PCRE treat
30	strings as UTF-8. As well as compiling PCRE with this option, you also have
31	have to set the PCRE_UTF8 option when you call the \fBpcre_compile()\fR
32	function.
33
34	.SH CODE VALUE OF NEWLINE
35	.rs
36	.sp
37	By default, PCRE treats character 10 (linefeed) as the newline character. This
38	is the normal newline character on Unix-like systems. You can compile PCRE to
39	use character 13 (carriage return) instead by adding
40
41	--enable-newline-is-cr
42
43	to the \fBconfigure\fR command. For completeness there is also a
44	--enable-newline-is-lf option, which explicitly specifies linefeed as the
45	newline character.
46
47	.SH BUILDING SHARED AND STATIC LIBRARIES
48	.rs
49	.sp
50	The PCRE building process uses \fBlibtool\fR to build both shared and static
51	Unix libraries by default. You can suppress one of these by adding one of
52
53	--disable-shared
54	--disable-static
55
56	to the \fBconfigure\fR command, as required.
57
58	.SH POSIX MALLOC USAGE
59	.rs
60	.sp
61	When PCRE is called through the POSIX interface (see the \fBpcreposix\fR
62	documentation), additional working storage is required for holding the pointers
63	to capturing substrings because PCRE requires three integers per substring,
64	whereas the POSIX interface provides only two. If the number of expected
65	substrings is small, the wrapper function uses space on the stack, because this
66	is faster than using \fBmalloc()\fR for each call. The default threshold above
67	which the stack is no longer used is 10; it can be changed by adding a setting
68	such as
69
70	--with-posix-malloc-threshold=20
71
72	to the \fBconfigure\fR command.
73
74	.SH LIMITING PCRE RESOURCE USAGE
75	.rs
76	.sp
77	Internally, PCRE has a function called \fBmatch()\fR which it calls repeatedly
78	(possibly recursively) when performing a matching operation. By limiting the
79	number of times this function may be called, a limit can be placed on the
80	resources used by a single call to \fBpcre_exec()\fR. The limit can be changed
81	at run time, as described in the \fBpcreapi\fR documentation. The default is 10
82	million, but this can be changed by adding a setting such as
83
84	--with-match-limit=500000
85
86	to the \fBconfigure\fR command.
87
88	.SH HANDLING VERY LARGE PATTERNS
89	.rs
90	.sp
91	Within a compiled pattern, offset values are used to point from one part to
92	another (for example, from an opening parenthesis to an alternation
93	metacharacter). By default two-byte values are used for these offsets, leading
94	to a maximum size for a compiled pattern of around 64K. This is sufficient to
95	handle all but the most gigantic patterns. Nevertheless, some people do want to
96	process enormous patterns, so it is possible to compile PCRE to use three-byte
97	or four-byte offsets by adding a setting such as
98
99	--with-link-size=3
100
101	to the \fBconfigure\fR command. The value given must be 2, 3, or 4. Using
102	longer offsets slows down the operation of PCRE because it has to load
103	additional bytes when handling them.
104
105	If you build PCRE with an increased link size, test 2 (and test 5 if you are
106	using UTF-8) will fail. Part of the output of these tests is a representation
107	of the compiled pattern, and this changes with the link size.
108
109	.SH AVOIDING EXCESSIVE STACK USAGE
110	.rs
111	.sp
112	PCRE implements backtracking while matching by making recursive calls to an
113	internal function called \fBmatch()\fR. In environments where the size of the
114	stack is limited, this can severely limit PCRE's operation. (The Unix
115	environment does not usually suffer from this problem.) An alternative approach
116	that uses memory from the heap to remember data, instead of using recursive
117	function calls, has been implemented to work round this problem. If you want to
118	build a version of PCRE that works this way, add
119
120	--disable-stack-for-recursion
121
122	to the \fBconfigure\fR command. With this configuration, PCRE will use the
123	\fBpcre_stack_malloc\fR and \fBpcre_stack_free\fR variables to call memory
124	management functions. Separate functions are provided because the usage is very
125	predictable: the block sizes requested are always the same, and the blocks are
126	always freed in reverse order. A calling program might be able to implement
127	optimized functions that perform better than the standard \fBmalloc()\fR and
128	\fBfree()\fR functions. PCRE runs noticeably more slowly when built in this
129	way.
130
131	.SH USING EBCDIC CODE
132	.rs
133	.sp
134	PCRE assumes by default that it will run in an environment where the character
135	code is ASCII (or UTF-8, which is a superset of ASCII). PCRE can, however, be
136	compiled to run in an EBCDIC environment by adding
137
138	--enable-ebcdic
139
140	to the \fBconfigure\fR command.
141
142	.in 0
143	Last updated: 09 December 2003
144	.br
145	Copyright (c) 1997-2003 University of Cambridge.