PHP regexp not working

Question

I want to match "TEST:" in the following example:

$text = "TEST:

This is a test.";

preg_match_all("/^([A-Z]+)\:$/m", $text, $matches);

But $matches is empty.

This however does work:

$text = "TEST:

This is a test.";

preg_match_all("/^([A-Z]+).*\:*$/m", $text, $matches);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => TEST:
            [1] => This is a test.
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => TEST
            [1] => T
        )

)

But I only want it to match "TEST:".

What am I doing wrong here? It seems to have a problem with the colon in the pattern, but doesn't work either if I don't escape it.

Thanks for help!

Ph.T · Accepted Answer · 2013-05-17 21:02:56Z

2

Actually when you use $ to denote the end of the line, be VERY carefull from where the string is build: On windows, an end-of-line is \r\n while on unix it is \n only The $ end delimiter ONLY recognize \n as an end of line

$text = "TEST:

This is a test.";
$text = str_replace("\r", "", $text);

preg_match_all("/^([A-Z]+)\:$/m", $text, $matches);

will work perfectly

answered May 17, 2013 at 21:02

Ph.T

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1 Comment

Daniel Over a year ago

Thanks, it seems that was actually the culprit! Works fine now :)

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