PHP regex to search across multiple lines

Question

I'm using preg_* in PHP to search for the pattern  and pull out the matched text.

The pattern for this is:

preg_match('#<!-- %{' . $knownString . '\s*=\s*(.*?)}% -->#', ...)

What I would like it to do is search across multiple lines for the string. For example:

<!-- %{data=
THIS GETS
MATCHED AND
RETURNED
}% -->

How can I edit my current pattern to have this search ability?

Alexander Konstantinov · Accepted Answer · 2010-05-20 07:27:15Z

6

You should add "s" pattern modifier, without it dot matches any character except for newline:

preg_match('#<!-- %{' . $knownString . '\s*=\s*(.*?)}% -->#s', ...)

answered May 20, 2010 at 7:27

Alexander Konstantinov

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1 Comment

Kamil Szot Over a year ago

I'd secure $knownString with preg_quote() before gluing it to the rest of the regexp.

Dan McGrath · Accepted Answer · 2010-05-20 06:46:43Z

1

Does preg_match('##s', ...) work?

I don't have PHP here at work atm so I can't test it...

answered May 20, 2010 at 6:46

Dan McGrath

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1 Comment

dave Over a year ago

I managed to get it working by using //s. I'm terrible at regex, however, so if you're looking at that thinking "...lol?". Please tell me xD

Salman Arshad · Accepted Answer · 2010-05-20 13:51:13Z

1

This seems to work:

<?php
    $testString = "<!-- %{data=
THIS GETS
MATCHED AND
RETURNED
}% -->";
    $knownString = "data";
    preg_match( "@<!-- %\\{" . $knownString . "\\s*=\\s*([^\\}]+)\\}% -->@", $testString, $match );
    var_dump( $match );
?>

Returned:

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(54) "<!-- %{data=
THIS GETS
MATCHED AND
RETURNED
}% -->"
  [1]=>
  string(34) "THIS GETS
MATCHED AND
RETURNED
"
}

edited May 20, 2010 at 13:51

answered May 20, 2010 at 10:50

Salman Arshad

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1 Comment

Alan Moore Over a year ago

m, or multiline mode, changes the meaning of the ^ and $ anchors, enabling them to match at line boundaries as well as at the beginning and end of the string. Your regex works because you changed the dot to ([^\\}]; the m is irrelevant.

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