PHP multiple values in regex + wildcards

Question

I just want to stress that I've been reading, trying and failing a lot before I asked this question. I can see similar questions but not exact duplicates.

I need to find a value that:

Could be in any case.
Could or could not end with something completely random E.g. "Cake is yummy"
May or may not be enclosed in /slashes/

This is what I'm currently doing:

  if ( $name == '/cake/' || $name == '/CAKE/' || $name == '/Cake/' || $name == '/CaKe/' || $name == 'CAKE' || $name == 'cake' {

This is what I'm trying to do:

if(preg_match == (cake:) *(\([a-zA-Z]+\).+){

Can't quite get it to work.

Wouldn't it be easier to make the string uppercase first and then do $name = strtoupper($name); if($name == '/CAKE/' || $name == 'CAKE') {? — Cyclonecode
– Cyclonecode, Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 11:09
I think you need to be much more detailed in what you are trying to match. Is it just single words? What do you mean it may end with random stuff? Should that be matched as well? Etc. When working with regular expressions you need to to very specific in what you want and what you do not want. — Sverri M. Olsen
– Sverri M. Olsen, Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 11:10
@Cyclone If it can be in any case then a case-insensitive match would do just fine. There is no reason to uppercase it. — Sverri M. Olsen
– Sverri M. Olsen, Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 11:11

mario · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-08 11:24:00Z

1

You're basically searching for a case-insensitive Cake. Then just use the i flag.

  preg_match("~ Cake ~xi", $name)
                       ↑

If you also want to match for optional / slashes around, then add an altenative:

  preg_match("~ /Cake/  |  \b Cake \b ~xi", $name)
                ↑    ↑      ↑       ↑

Note the \b word boundary markers for the unenclosed cake, so you're not matching Cakeriky for example.

If you want Cake to be at the start of the string, then it'll need an ^ marker.

 preg_match("~ ^  (/Cake/  |  \b Cake \b) ~xi", $name)
               ↑
          start anchor

If you additionally wanted to enforce some text thereafter being present (and not optional/ignored), then add another placeholder:

 preg_match("~ ^  (/Cake/  |  \b Cake \b)   .*\w.* ~xi", $name)
                                               ↑
                                      at least one word char

edited Aug 8, 2015 at 11:24

answered Aug 8, 2015 at 11:13

mario

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6 Comments

Leviathan Over a year ago

Thanks, how about if I wanted to match '/cake/ - bake some!' for example, it could be anything afterwards

Leviathan Over a year ago

so for example: if $name preg_match("~ /Cake/ | \b Cake \b ~xi",){ Would find cake, /cake/, cake is yummy, /cake/ is great etc. ?

mario Over a year ago

Any combination of that. Add the $name parameter to match against.

Leviathan Over a year ago

Thanks for all your help can you just check my syntax here I'm unsure how to incorporate it Something like: if ($name == (preg_match("~ /Cake/ | \b Cake \b ~xi",)){ Or if(preg_match("~ /Cake/ | \b Cake \b ~xi", $name))

Leviathan Over a year ago

Thank you so much for all your help and patience :)

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