intermediate string processing with php

Question

This is the string a want to process: "very, very, Random Stringby Random $10" The fixed strings are $ and the last by. I do not know how many by's it will be before the last one.

I am looking for a way to unambiguously cut out the "by Random"("by" and the string/strings between $ sign) out of string.

I though I could do this by accessing the position of $ sign(I know there will always be $ sign in there at the right position) with strpos function and the position of the first "by" before $ sign. But I don't know how to tell it to look for the first "by" before the selected position, namely the $ sign. What approach do you recommend that I take?

You've provided a lot of words that don't describe what you want: Given your input string, what exactly do you expect / want back from it? — random_user_name
– random_user_name, Commented Feb 1, 2016 at 21:30
try strripos(), it matches from the end of the string, e.g. strripos('by', $str) would find the last by. — Marc B
– Marc B, Commented Feb 1, 2016 at 21:30

Jay Blanchard · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-01 21:39:18Z

3

If you use strripos() you can get the last portion of the string by combining that function with the substr() function like this:

$string = "very, very,  Random Stringby by by Random $10";
echo substr($string, strripos($string, 'by')); // by Random $10

Note that this PHP function is one of those requiring the haystack first, then the needle.

NOTE: I was bitten by the order of the needle and haystack earlier today on this very function.

edited Feb 1, 2016 at 21:39

answered Feb 1, 2016 at 21:36

Jay Blanchard

34.5k17 gold badges82 silver badges130 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

potato Over a year ago

thank you. this seems optimal. Just a quick question before I dive into testing. Since it goes in reverse...will it return the position of "b" or "y" of "by"?

Jay Blanchard Over a year ago

It returns the position of the first character in the needle @krompir2

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

intermediate string processing with php

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related