How to check for a question mark in PHP string using regex?

Question

I have a string returning a URL and need to figure out how to use if and regex to do something whenever the returned URL contains a question mark.

So when $url is http://somedomain.com/?p=34325&blahblahblah

IF the $url contains "?p=" (and discarding everything else) then exit, otherwise do something

Any help?
Many thanks

Explosion Pills · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-10 00:29:50Z

9

You don't need a regex to match a simple string:

if (strpos($url, '?p=') !== false) {
   exit;
}
//do something

If you really wanted to use a regex:

if (preg_match('/\?p=/', $url)) {

answered Oct 10, 2012 at 0:29

Explosion Pills

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Paul · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-10 00:29:47Z

4

Don't use regex for this. You do not need the power of regular pattern matching. Just use strstr:

if(strstr($url, 'p=?')){
    exit;
}

// Do other stuff

answered Oct 10, 2012 at 0:29

Paul

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3 Comments

nooblag Over a year ago

Ok. Worked a treat. Thanks very much for your help!

Paul Over a year ago

@WendiT It's an X/Y question. I answered "How to check for a question mark in PHP string?", because the best answer to "How to check for a question mark in PHP string using regex?" is simply "Don't". It is incorrect to use a regular expression for such a task in PHP.

WendiT Over a year ago

ok clear. Do I need to use preg_match for multiple needles 5-6 needles) or is there a better solution?

AlexP · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-10 00:31:32Z

0

if (preg_match("/(\?p=)/", $url)) {

answered Oct 10, 2012 at 0:31

AlexP

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