---
name: "pcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcre"
version: "8.45-5"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order"
---

# pcre\_pattern\_to\_host\_byte\_order(3)

Perl-compatible regular expressions

## NAME

PCRE - Perl-compatible regular expressions

## SYNOPSIS

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

```
int pcre_pattern_to_host_byte_order(pcre *code,
     pcre_extra *extra, const unsigned char *tables);

int pcre16_pattern_to_host_byte_order(pcre16 *code,
     pcre16_extra *extra, const unsigned char *tables);

int pcre32_pattern_to_host_byte_order(pcre32 *code,
     pcre32_extra *extra, const unsigned char *tables);
```

## DESCRIPTION

This function ensures that the bytes in 2-byte and 4-byte values in a compiled pattern are in the correct order for the current host. It is useful when a pattern that has been compiled on one host is transferred to another that might have different endianness. The arguments are:

  *code*         A compiled regular expression\
   *extra*        Points to an associated **pcre\[16\|32\]\_extra** structure,\
                  or is NULL\
   *tables*       Pointer to character tables, or NULL to\
                  set the built-in default

The result is 0 for success, a negative PCRE\_ERROR\_xxx value otherwise.

There is a complete description of the PCRE native API in the **pcreapi** page and a description of the POSIX API in the **pcreposix** page.