Regex Expression Issue

Question

I have the below regex expression and I'm trying to break it into two parts, there might not always be the the two parts though.

Section Level: Very Low. Type: Animal.

I'm using the below to break it by characters but I need to be able to break by the string, identify the level and type so they can be returned into two separate database columns. For example I need to check the string and see if there is anything matching 'Section Level: {text}.' and insert it into the level column in the database and the same for type, I need to check the string for 'Type: {text}.' and insert it into a type column.

(?<=\:)(.*?)(?=\.)

I've been able to get the first piece out using (\w*)(.*?)(?=\.) but still can't for the life of me get the second part.

Like I said in the post, I need to break it up based on the text between 'Level:' and the next full stop and then also break it up on 'Type:' and the next full stop after type but there wont always be a type or a level. — llanato
– llanato, Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 9:13
@DmitryDovgopoly, how did you even get that from my post, I clearly explained what I'm trying to do and what I've already tried to solve my issue. I'm just asking to be pointed in the right direction, I never said I want you to write the code! — llanato
– llanato, Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 9:16
Sorry, i misinterpreted your perpose because your regular expression is perfectly fits for your string example, so i actually don't see how we could help you, exept writing the code in php. Cold you please provide test cases, where you regex is not working — Dmitrii Dovgopolyi
– Dmitrii Dovgopolyi, Commented Mar 29, 2013 at 9:19

Community · Accepted Answer · 2020-06-20 09:12:55Z

2

Following regex should work for you:

(?=\w)(?:Section\s+Level:\s*([^.]+)\.)?\s*(?:Type:\s*([^.]+)\.)?

With both Level and Type fields as optional fields.

Live Demo: http://www.rubular.com/r/GpSHs69YHy

edited Jun 20, 2020 at 9:12

CommunityBot

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answered Mar 29, 2013 at 9:19

anubhava

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11 Comments

llanato Over a year ago

Thanks for that, Slight change to it, I forgot to add in the other piece of text, once I do this it seems to return 3 array elements, I've changed the regex at this link, rubular.com/r/9oODd88KIg

crackmigg Over a year ago

You should really consider not using a regex for this as you will always have expand it for every new word. Also this regex, due to making nearly everything optional, will match anything containing at least a dot, like "......", ".aaaaaaaa", etc. The strtok alternative seems more appropriate for your needs.

anubhava Over a year ago

@migg Pls pay close attention to the regex before claiming will match anything containing at least a dot

anubhava Over a year ago

@atallon: Your suggested regex at rubular.com/r/9oODd88KIg looks good to me.

crackmigg Over a year ago

Ok... maybe I should clarify that it generates "a lot of empty matching groups" for anything containing at least a dot ;)

|

Michael · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-29 09:27:56Z

1

I'd probably use strtok rather than regular expressions:

$string = 'Level: Very Low. Type: Animal.';

$parts = array();

for ($s = strtok($string, '.'); $s; $s = strtok('.'))
{

  $array = explode(':', $s);

  $parts[trim($array[0])] = trim($array[1]);

}

print_r($parts);

That would give you:

Array
(
    [Level] => Very Low
    [Type] => Animal
)

The benefit is that if you ever added something else, say Gender: Male then you wouldn't have to modify the code (much).

edited Mar 29, 2013 at 9:27

answered Mar 29, 2013 at 9:14

Michael

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