Running into an issue with an apache/php installation.

Redhat 6.5 Apache 2.4 PHP 5.6

Installed apache in a non-standard installation(did not use yum install httpd). I did so by: -placing the apache zip onto the server -./configure --prefix=/usr/dir/.... make make install

After this apache started and I was able to hit it on a browser. I then stopped apache to install php.

installed PHP and its dependencies which included: libxml2 python

then I ran ./configure --prefix=/usr/dir/util/php --with-libxml-dir=/usr/dir/uti/util/libxml2/ --with-apxs2=/usr/dir/uti/apache/bin/apxs

then I configured apache httpd.conf with LoadModule php5_module modules/libphp5.so

When I attempted to start apache I received the following error message

/httpd: error while loading shared libraries: libpcre.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

You might need to add a LD_LIBRARY_PATH to the environment used for apache for the location of libpcre.so.1, or install it.

No, unfortunately your issue started before that. Because when you want to use RHEL you should use it like it should be used. Those Best Practices include not installing software from source. Unless you know what you are doing and will bear the consequences responsibly. Else you could use CentOS with the RPMForge, EPEL and other (relatively trustworthy wrt Quality Assurance) 3rd party repos.
*This may not be the answer you would have liked to read but without further explanation it certainly is the most suitable answer.

Unfortunately I cannot have root access to this environment, so using the standard yum install httpd will not work.

I apologize if this question is basic.. I assume the pcre library is found in the 'pear compatible regular expressions' which I installed into a directory /usr/util. Where would I reference this libpcre.so file?

If you aren't allowed root access to install software then you should ask responsible personnel to install software for you. If that's out of the question then know you may not even be able to run any service in a decent way anyway depending on the security posture of the machine. Should you remain adamant you should pursue this anyway then please explain why in detail. Maybe there's another way to do what you want.

Can I prefix the standard yum install httpd?

For example:
yum install httpd --prefix=/usr/dir

No, but RPM can. Provided the package handles it, list the packages contents and for each distinctive directory use "--reloc".

it looks like php cannot be relocated using rpm.

$ rpm -qpi php55-5.5.10-1.el6.x86_64.rpm | grep Relocations
Name : php55 Relocations: (not relocatable)

So. Have you actually asked responsible personnel to install software for you?
Because else you may not even be able to run your self compiled software properly.

Not to mention the likelihood that it would violate site policy... Which would also explain why they wouldn't install it in the first place.