96 lines
		
	
	
		
			3.2 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			96 lines
		
	
	
		
			3.2 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			HTML
		
	
	
	
<html>
 | 
						|
<head>
 | 
						|
<title>pcre2limits specification</title>
 | 
						|
</head>
 | 
						|
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#00005A" link="#0066FF" alink="#3399FF" vlink="#2222BB">
 | 
						|
<h1>pcre2limits man page</h1>
 | 
						|
<p>
 | 
						|
Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>.
 | 
						|
</p>
 | 
						|
<p>
 | 
						|
This page is part of the PCRE2 HTML documentation. It was generated
 | 
						|
automatically from the original man page. If there is any nonsense in it,
 | 
						|
please consult the man page, in case the conversion went wrong.
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
<br><b>
 | 
						|
SIZE AND OTHER LIMITATIONS
 | 
						|
</b><br>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
There are some size limitations in PCRE2 but it is hoped that they will never
 | 
						|
in practice be relevant.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum size of a compiled pattern is approximately 64 thousand code units
 | 
						|
for the 8-bit and 16-bit libraries if PCRE2 is compiled with the default
 | 
						|
internal linkage size, which is 2 bytes for these libraries. If you want to
 | 
						|
process regular expressions that are truly enormous, you can compile PCRE2 with
 | 
						|
an internal linkage size of 3 or 4 (when building the 16-bit library, 3 is
 | 
						|
rounded up to 4). See the <b>README</b> file in the source distribution and the
 | 
						|
<a href="pcre2build.html"><b>pcre2build</b></a>
 | 
						|
documentation for details. In these cases the limit is substantially larger.
 | 
						|
However, the speed of execution is slower. In the 32-bit library, the internal
 | 
						|
linkage size is always 4.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length of a source pattern string is essentially unlimited; it is
 | 
						|
the largest number a PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold. However, the program that
 | 
						|
calls <b>pcre2_compile()</b> can specify a smaller limit.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length (in code units) of a subject string is one less than the
 | 
						|
largest number a PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold. PCRE2_SIZE is an unsigned
 | 
						|
integer type, usually defined as size_t. Its maximum value (that is
 | 
						|
~(PCRE2_SIZE)0) is reserved as a special indicator for zero-terminated strings
 | 
						|
and unset offsets.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
All values in repeating quantifiers must be less than 65536.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length of a lookbehind assertion is 65535 characters.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
There is no limit to the number of parenthesized groups, but there can be no
 | 
						|
more than 65535 capture groups, and there is a limit to the depth of nesting of
 | 
						|
parenthesized subpatterns of all kinds. This is imposed in order to limit the
 | 
						|
amount of system stack used at compile time. The default limit can be specified
 | 
						|
when PCRE2 is built; if not, the default is set to 250. An application can
 | 
						|
change this limit by calling pcre2_set_parens_nest_limit() to set the limit in
 | 
						|
a compile context.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length of name for a named capture group is 32 code units, and the
 | 
						|
maximum number of such groups is 10000.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length of a name in a (*MARK), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), or (*THEN) verb
 | 
						|
is 255 code units for the 8-bit library and 65535 code units for the 16-bit and
 | 
						|
32-bit libraries.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
The maximum length of a string argument to a callout is the largest number a
 | 
						|
32-bit unsigned integer can hold.
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<br><b>
 | 
						|
AUTHOR
 | 
						|
</b><br>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
Philip Hazel
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
University Computing Service
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
Cambridge, England.
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
</P>
 | 
						|
<br><b>
 | 
						|
REVISION
 | 
						|
</b><br>
 | 
						|
<P>
 | 
						|
Last updated: 02 February 2019
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
Copyright © 1997-2019 University of Cambridge.
 | 
						|
<br>
 | 
						|
<p>
 | 
						|
Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>.
 | 
						|
</p>
 |