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int32_t pcre2_serialize_decode(pcre2_code **codes,
int32_t number_of_codes, const uint8_t *bytes,
pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
int32_t pcre2_serialize_encode(const pcre2_code **codes,
int32_t number_of_codes, uint8_t **serialized_bytes,
PCRE2_SIZE *serialized_size, pcre2_general_context *gcontext);
void pcre2_serialize_free(uint8_t *bytes);
int32_t pcre2_serialize_get_number_of_codes(const uint8_t *bytes);
If you are running an application that uses a large number of regular
expression patterns, it may be useful to store them in a precompiled form
instead of having to compile them every time the application is run. However,
if you are using the just-in-time optimization feature, it is not possible to
save and reload the JIT data, because it is position-dependent. The host on
which the patterns are reloaded must be running the same version of PCRE2, with
the same code unit width, and must also have the same endianness, pointer width
and PCRE2_SIZE type. For example, patterns compiled on a 32-bit system using
PCRE2's 16-bit library cannot be reloaded on a 64-bit system, nor can they be
reloaded using the 8-bit library.
Note that "serialization" in PCRE2 does not convert compiled patterns to an abstract format like Java or .NET serialization. The serialized output is really just a bytecode dump, which is why it can only be reloaded in the same environment as the one that created it. Hence the restrictions mentioned above. Applications that are not statically linked with a fixed version of PCRE2 must be prepared to recompile patterns from their sources, in order to be immune to PCRE2 upgrades.
The facility for saving and restoring compiled patterns is intended for use within individual applications. As such, the data supplied to pcre2_serialize_decode() is expected to be trusted data, not data from arbitrary external sources. There is only some simple consistency checking, not complete validation of what is being re-loaded. Corrupted data may cause undefined results. For example, if the length field of a pattern in the serialized data is corrupted, the deserializing code may read beyond the end of the byte stream that is passed to it.
Before compiled patterns can be saved they must be serialized, which in PCRE2 means converting the pattern to a stream of bytes. A single byte stream may contain any number of compiled patterns, but they must all use the same character tables. A single copy of the tables is included in the byte stream (its size is 1088 bytes). For more details of character tables, see the section on locale support in the pcre2api</