PHP Regex replace expression inside two expressions

Question

I'm trying to create a Regex expression to use with preg_replace() to replace a expression that's between two other expressions. The overall idea is:

$new = "stuff";
$original = /*see below*/;
$final = preg_replace('regex expression', $new, $original);

example of $original string:

(...)"dl cm = xxxx opop1 = XYZ opop3 = XXXXXXXXXXXX,XXXX,"thisisit" YYYY = z"(...)

example of the $final string:

(...)"dl cm = xxxx opop1 = XYZ opop3 = XXXXXXXXXXXX,XXXX,"stuff" YYYY = z"(...)

(The X's, Y's, Z's can be any character)

The expression must find the 'opop3 = XXXXXXXXXXXX,XXXX,"' then the following '"' and change the text inside this two delimiters.

I think that I found how to find the first delimiter

(opop3.=(.*)(\,)(.*)(\,)\")

And find the following '"' is not hard, but i don't know how can I change the text between them without touching the delimiters.

(or if someone know other way to do this, please, let me know)

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-08 10:27:08Z

1

You can make use of \K (reset search) of PCRE:

$final = preg_replace('/XXXXXXXXXXXX,XXXX,"\K[^"]+/', $new, $original);

answered Nov 8, 2013 at 10:27

anubhava

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1 Comment

thanks, it worked! $final = preg_replace("/opop3.*=.*,.*,"\K[^"]+/", "notinternet", $input_lines);