---
name: "pcre2_substring_list_get"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcre2"
version: "10.49-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pcre2_substring_list_get"
---

# pcre2\_substring\_list\_get(3)

Perl-compatible regular expressions (revised API)

## NAME

PCRE2 - Perl-compatible regular expressions (revised API)

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<pcre2.h\>**

```
int pcre2_substring_list_get(pcre2_match_data *match_data,
  PCRE2_UCHAR ***listptr, PCRE2_SIZE **lengthsptr);
```

## DESCRIPTION

This is a convenience function for extracting all the captured substrings after a pattern match. It builds a list of pointers to the strings, and (optionally) a second list that contains their lengths (in code units), excluding a terminating zero that is added to each of them. All this is done in a single block of memory that is obtained using the same memory allocation function that was used to get the match data block. The convenience function **pcre2\_substring\_list\_free()** can be used to free it when it is no longer needed. The arguments are:

  *match\_data*    The match data block\
   *listptr*       Where to put a pointer to the list\
   *lengthsptr*    Where to put a pointer to the lengths, or NULL

A pointer to a list of pointers is put in the variable whose address is in *listptr*. The list is terminated by a NULL pointer. If *lengthsptr* is not NULL, a matching list of lengths is created, and its address is placed in *lengthsptr*. The yield of the function is zero on success or PCRE2\_ERROR\_NOMEMORY if sufficient memory could not be obtained.

There is a complete description of the PCRE2 native API in the **pcre2api** page and a description of the POSIX API in the **pcre2posix** page.