diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 07c22f5e6..df2761843 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,6 +9,12 @@ if(NOT BBS_BUILD_SYSTEM)
     bbs_build_tests_with_all()
 endif()
 
+if (BDE_USE_EXTERNAL_PCRE2)
+    find_package(pcre2 CONFIG REQUIRED)
+    get_target_property(_pcre2_alias_target PCRE2::8BIT ALIASED_TARGET)
+    add_library(libpcre2-8 ALIAS "${_pcre2_alias_target}")
+endif()
+
 add_subdirectory(thirdparty)
 add_subdirectory(groups)
 add_subdirectory(standalones)
diff --git a/groups/bdl/bdlpcre/bdlpcre_regex.h b/groups/bdl/bdlpcre/bdlpcre_regex.h
index cd1c4a350..e67841c95 100644
--- a/groups/bdl/bdlpcre/bdlpcre_regex.h
+++ b/groups/bdl/bdlpcre/bdlpcre_regex.h
@@ -660,7 +660,7 @@ BSLS_IDENT("$Id$ $CSID$")
 #ifndef _PCRE2_H
 #define PCRE2_CODE_UNIT_WIDTH 8
 #define PCRE2_STATIC
-#include <pcre2/pcre2.h>
+#include <pcre2.h>
 #endif
 
 #ifndef BDE_DONT_ALLOW_TRANSITIVE_INCLUDES
diff --git a/groups/bdl/group/bdl.dep b/groups/bdl/group/bdl.dep
index 91ec53004..c4e3d0e8a 100644
--- a/groups/bdl/group/bdl.dep
+++ b/groups/bdl/group/bdl.dep
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 bsl
 # third-party
 inteldfp
-pcre2
+libpcre2-8