PHP Regex statements

Question

With a post request, I'm trying to return a booking number to my iOS App. It posts the current date as a string which is written to a file on my server.
The logic is, that whenever the date from the last entry does not match the date passed in the post request, the booking number starts from 01. If it is the same date, the booking number gets increased by one.

The text file I write my entries to looks like this:

2017-03-03, 1;
2017-03-03, 2;
2017-03-03, 3;
2017-03-03, 4;
2017-03-03, 5

I am using regex to find the last entry, comparing its date to the current and assigning the new booking number. Here is my code:

if (preg_match_all("/\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2},\s\d\z/", $textFileString, $entryArray)) {
    if (preg_match_all("/\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}/", $entryArray[0][0], $dateArray)) {
        if ($dateArray[0][0] == $currentDate) { //$currentDate's value comes from the post request
            if (preg_match_all("/\d\z/", $entry[0][0], $numberArray)) {
                $bookingNumber = $output_array[0][0]+1;
            }
        } else {
            $bookingNumber = 1;
        }
    }
}

Note: I do successfully write to the file.

If you are interested in a single match, why use preg_match_all? Use preg_match. Also, \z matches the very end of string, what if there is a trailing newline? Change into $. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 9:54
Well when I read bookingNumber from the json response inside my app, I get the value that I assigned to $bookingNumber before these regex statements — LinusG.
– LinusG., Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 9:55
@WiktorStribiżew I am trying to read the latest entry, which is obviously at the very end of the string. — LinusG.
– LinusG., Commented Mar 3, 2017 at 9:58

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-03 11:17:54Z

1

I suggest switching to preg_match (since you only need to find a single match) and add capturing groups to the pattern so as to reduce the code a bit:

$textFileString = '2017-03-03, 1;
2017-03-03, 2;
2017-03-03, 3;
2017-03-03, 4;
2017-03-03, 5';
$currentDate = '2017-03-03';
if (preg_match("/(\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}),\s(\d{1,2})\z/", $textFileString, $entryArray)) {
    if ($entryArray[1] == $currentDate) { //$currentDate's value comes from the post request
        $bookingNumber = $entryArray[2]+1;
    } else {
        $bookingNumber = 1;
    }

}
echo $bookingNumber;

See the PHP demo.

Note you may also replace \z with $ since the $ anchor matches at the end of the string (or before a final LF in the string) by default.

Now, (\d{4}-\d{1,2}-\d{1,2}),\s(\d{1,2})\z contains two capturing groups that you may access via $entryArray[1] and $entryArray[2].

edited Mar 3, 2017 at 11:17

answered Mar 3, 2017 at 10:16

Wiktor Stribiżew

631k41 gold badges502 silver badges632 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP Regex statements

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related