Deleting text between two strings in php using preg_replace

Question

I've been trying to remove a section of text from a string the sites betweem two tags. For example:

This is CROPSTART not very CROPEND cool.

...should become this...

This is cool.

This is the PHP I've tried and generally it works:

preg_replace('#\/\/CROPSTART[\s\S]+\/\/CROPEND#', '', $string);

However, when the string contains multiple "CROPEND" it crops everything from the CROPSTART to the last CROPEND. I would like it to only crop between the first CROPSTART and the first CROPEND.

Anyone know how to do this?

Thanks Wonko

maybe this can help: stackoverflow.com/questions/1899158/… — mmgross
– mmgross, Commented May 23, 2015 at 1:08
possible duplicate of How to get the shortest rather than longest possible regex match with preg_match() — mario
– mario, Commented May 23, 2015 at 1:18
Yes, looks like a dupe to me, guilty as charged. That said, the answer provided here was succinct and clear to understand. — Wonko the Sane
– Wonko the Sane, Commented May 23, 2015 at 1:30

Martin Konecny · Accepted Answer · 2015-05-23 01:17:44Z

25

However, when the string contains multiple "CROPEND" it crops everything from the CROPSTART to the last CROPEND.

This is because your + operator is greedy - it won't stop at the first instance of CROPEND and continue until it encounters the last instance.

You can use a non-greedy version of the + operator simply by appending a ? after it:

preg_replace('/CROPSTART[\s\S]+?CROPEND/', '', $string);

answered May 23, 2015 at 1:17

Martin Konecny

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1 Comment

Tom Senner Over a year ago

How would it work if I have "CROPSTART FirstWord CROPEND only this CROPSTART SecWord CROPEND" and I want to get " only this "?

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