Regex to find the text between certain code

Question

my text is like this;

[name]JAAN JOHN[/name]
[cell]09178656469[/cell]
[city]Dhaka[/city]

I want to get text in between each of the above [ ] quotes using regex. Please pardon me since I searched alot this site but unable to get my required answer. Please help!

EDITED:

For example, I want to get the result like this:

Name: JAAN JOHN
Cell #: 09178656469
City: Dhaka

How to get this result?

I'm really sorry sir! but I'm very new to regex. I can write code with PHP but its hard for me to write regex. Please help — user2854563
– user2854563, Commented Aug 16, 2014 at 10:35
You say "between each of the above [ ]". I suspect you don't mean that; you mean between each of the [tag] and [/tag] pairings, right? e.g. you want to extract "JAAN JOHN" — Mitya
– Mitya, Commented Aug 16, 2014 at 10:37
It would help everyone (also future readers) to give an example output (what you want to get). — exhuma
– exhuma, Commented Aug 16, 2014 at 10:40

Braj · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-16 10:45:48Z

2

Use back reference and get the matched group from index 2. In below sample code I am interested in cell tag

\[(cell)\](.*?)\[\/\1\]

Here is demo

If you are interested in all tags of matching end tag then try

\[(.*?)\](.*?)\[\/\1\]

Here is demo

Get the desired tag name from index 1 and value from index 2.

sample code:

$re = "/\\[(.*?)\\](.*?)\\[\\/\\1\\]/";
$str = "[name]JAAN JOHN[/name]\n[cell]09178656469[/cell]\n[city]Dhaka[/city]";

preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches);

edited Aug 16, 2014 at 10:45

answered Aug 16, 2014 at 10:40

Braj

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3 Comments

exhuma Over a year ago

This is the first time in many years that I have seen backreferences used. That is very cool! ;)

user2854563 Over a year ago

I've updated my first post, please read again, Thank you for your time sir!

user2854563 Over a year ago

Thank you sir! Your answer have solved my question, I'll select your answer as the best one. Thanks for all others.

Tim Zimmermann · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-16 10:39:43Z

1

This regex will do for each line.

\[[^\]]+\](.*?)\[\/[^\]]+\]

Test the regex here.

answered Aug 16, 2014 at 10:39

Tim Zimmermann

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1 Comment

user2854563 Over a year ago

I've updated my first post, please read again, Thank you for your time sir!

Ghilas BELHADJ · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-16 10:44:33Z

1

Use Lookahead and Lookbehind Assertions

((?<=]).*(?=\[\/))

See this demo

answered Aug 16, 2014 at 10:44

Ghilas BELHADJ

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