2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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<title>pcre2limits specification</title>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#00005A" link="#0066FF" alink="#3399FF" vlink="#2222BB">
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<h1>pcre2limits man page</h1>
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<p>
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Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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This page is part of the PCRE2 HTML documentation. It was generated
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automatically from the original man page. If there is any nonsense in it,
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please consult the man page, in case the conversion went wrong.
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<br>
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<br><b>
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SIZE AND OTHER LIMITATIONS
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</b><br>
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<P>
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There are some size limitations in PCRE2 but it is hoped that they will never
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in practice be relevant.
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</P>
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<P>
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2018-06-18 16:03:33 +02:00
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The maximum size of a compiled pattern is approximately 64 thousand code units
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for the 8-bit and 16-bit libraries if PCRE2 is compiled with the default
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internal linkage size, which is 2 bytes for these libraries. If you want to
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process regular expressions that are truly enormous, you can compile PCRE2 with
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an internal linkage size of 3 or 4 (when building the 16-bit library, 3 is
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rounded up to 4). See the <b>README</b> file in the source distribution and the
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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<a href="pcre2build.html"><b>pcre2build</b></a>
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documentation for details. In these cases the limit is substantially larger.
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However, the speed of execution is slower. In the 32-bit library, the internal
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linkage size is always 4.
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</P>
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<P>
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2015-12-17 19:44:06 +01:00
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The maximum length of a source pattern string is essentially unlimited; it is
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the largest number a PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold. However, the program that
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2015-11-05 18:33:39 +01:00
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calls <b>pcre2_compile()</b> can specify a smaller limit.
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</P>
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<P>
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2014-11-26 17:51:53 +01:00
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The maximum length (in code units) of a subject string is one less than the
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largest number a PCRE2_SIZE variable can hold. PCRE2_SIZE is an unsigned
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integer type, usually defined as size_t. Its maximum value (that is
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~(PCRE2_SIZE)0) is reserved as a special indicator for zero-terminated strings
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and unset offsets.
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</P>
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<P>
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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All values in repeating quantifiers must be less than 65536.
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</P>
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<P>
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2015-11-05 18:33:39 +01:00
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The maximum length of a lookbehind assertion is 65535 characters.
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</P>
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<P>
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2019-02-06 19:11:36 +01:00
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There is no limit to the number of parenthesized groups, but there can be no
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more than 65535 capture groups, and there is a limit to the depth of nesting of
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parenthesized subpatterns of all kinds. This is imposed in order to limit the
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amount of system stack used at compile time. The default limit can be specified
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when PCRE2 is built; if not, the default is set to 250. An application can
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change this limit by calling pcre2_set_parens_nest_limit() to set the limit in
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a compile context.
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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</P>
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<P>
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2019-02-06 19:11:36 +01:00
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The maximum length of name for a named capture group is 32 code units, and the
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maximum number of such groups is 10000.
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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</P>
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<P>
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The maximum length of a name in a (*MARK), (*PRUNE), (*SKIP), or (*THEN) verb
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2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
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is 255 code units for the 8-bit library and 65535 code units for the 16-bit and
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32-bit libraries.
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</P>
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<P>
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2017-01-16 18:40:47 +01:00
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The maximum length of a string argument to a callout is the largest number a
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2016-11-22 16:37:02 +01:00
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32-bit unsigned integer can hold.
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</P>
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<br><b>
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AUTHOR
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</b><br>
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<P>
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Philip Hazel
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<br>
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University Computing Service
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<br>
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2014-11-21 17:45:06 +01:00
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Cambridge, England.
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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<br>
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</P>
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<br><b>
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REVISION
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</b><br>
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<P>
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2019-02-06 19:11:36 +01:00
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Last updated: 02 February 2019
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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<br>
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2019-02-06 19:11:36 +01:00
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Copyright © 1997-2019 University of Cambridge.
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2014-09-29 18:45:37 +02:00
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<br>
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<p>
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Return to the <a href="index.html">PCRE2 index page</a>.
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</p>
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