PHP : Matching strings between two strings

Question

i have a problem with preg_match , i cant figure it out.

let the code say it :

function::wp_statistics_useronline::end
function::wp_statistics_visitor|today::end
function::wp_statistics_visitor|yesterday::end
function::wp_statistics_visitor|week::end
function::wp_statistics_visitor|month::end
function::wp_statistics_visitor|total::end

these are some string that run functions inside php;

when i use just one function::*::end it works just fine. but when it contain more than one function , not working the way i want it parse the match like :

function::wp_statistics_useronline::end function::wp_statistics_visitor|today::end AND ....::end

so basically i need Regex code that separate them and give me an array for each function::*::end

Explode is not pretty for whole thing , i guess. i used regexfor first action and then explode function parameters with explode @Dagon — Saeid Khaleghi
– Saeid Khaleghi, Commented May 25, 2014 at 21:11

Tim Pietzcker · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-25 20:56:04Z

1

I assume you were actually using function::(.*)::end since function::*::end is never going to work (it can only match strings like "function::::::end").

The reason your regex failed with multiple matches on the same line is that the quantifier * is greedy by default, matching as many characters as possible. You need to make it lazy: function::(.*?)::end

answered May 25, 2014 at 20:56

Tim Pietzcker

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3 Comments

Saeid Khaleghi Over a year ago

Hey, this is what i currently use. preg_match("/function::(.*)::end/",$CurrentSotoun['content'],$calling_function); any problem that you see ?

Tim Pietzcker Over a year ago

Yes, the quantifier is greedy. Did you notice the ? in my suggested solution?

Saeid Khaleghi Over a year ago

We have a winner here !! its really helped me out , its hours that i working on it and its solved NOW ! thanks alot !

hakre · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-25 20:58:20Z

1

It's pretty straight forward:

$result = preg_match_all('~function::(\S*)::end~m', $subject, $matches) 
          ? $matches[1] : [];

Which gives:

Array
(
    [0] => wp_statistics_useronline
    [1] => wp_statistics_visitor|today
    [2] => wp_statistics_visitor|yesterday
    [3] => wp_statistics_visitor|week
    [4] => wp_statistics_visitor|month
    [5] => wp_statistics_visitor|total
)

And (for the second example):

Array
(
    [0] => wp_statistics_useronline
    [1] => wp_statistics_visitor|today
)

The regex in the example is a matching group around the part in the middle which does not contain whitespace. So \S* is a good fit.

As the matching group is the first one, you can retrieve it with $matches[1] as it's done after running the regular expression.

answered May 25, 2014 at 20:58

hakre

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6 Comments

Tim Pietzcker Over a year ago

That's not going to work on the second example, which is the one he is having problems with.

hakre Over a year ago

Then it's \S insead of . I'd say. Didn't see that string... Edited.

Saeid Khaleghi Over a year ago

that seems exactly what i want , but i just tested it , not working

hakre Over a year ago

@user2077916: Please see the edit. I tested it against the data you have provided and both examples work.

Saeid Khaleghi Over a year ago

Sorry , i tested it again , works fine , but i prefer to use the selected answer. thank you for sharing.again :)

|

Michael Mikhjian · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-25 21:08:50Z

0

This is what you're looking for:

function\:\:(.*?)\:

Make sure you have the dot matches all identifier set.

After you get the matches, run it through a forloop and run an explode on "|", push it to an array and boom goes the dynamite, you've got what you're looking for.

answered May 25, 2014 at 21:08

Michael Mikhjian

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