Replace string with regex

Question

I have a string that is a PHP code example that contains the following snippet:

$data = array(
    'cKey1' => "dsfaasdfasdfasdfasdf",
    'cKey2' => "asdfasdfasdfadsfasdf",
    ...
);

Currently I'm just doing a str_replace on two hard-coded keys, but I need this to be more flexible now. These are the two regex I've come up with so far:

(?<=cKey1' => ).+(?=,)
(?<=cKey2' => ).+(?=,)

But, due to some people not using spaces, using double quotes, etc, this is not an ideal solution. Can someone point me in a better way to replace the values of cKey1 and cKey2 in a more efficient way?

Thanks!

use the tokenizer. php.net/manual/en/function.token-get-all.php — Casimir et Hippolyte
– Casimir et Hippolyte, Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 17:07
@anubhava: the output will be the same as the original string, just with made up values (similar to the example above) instead of real cKeys — Matt Altepeter
– Matt Altepeter, Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 18:26

anubhava · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-25 18:47:47Z

1

You can use \K (match reset feature):

$re = array("/'cKey1'\s*=>\s*\K[^,]*/", "/'cKey2'\s*=>\s*\K[^,]*/");

$repl = array('"foo"', '"bar"')

echo preg_replace($re, $repl, $str);

Output:

$data = array(
    'cKey1' => "foo",
    'cKey2' => "bar",
    ...
);

answered Feb 25, 2016 at 18:47

anubhava

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5 Comments

Matt Altepeter Over a year ago

This almost did it for me. I get the contents of the code example using file_get_contents(), but I lose some of the opening lines for (likely due to the <?php). If I use htmlspecialchars() around file_get_contents() the data remains perfect, but your solution doesn't replace. Any ideas on that?

Matt Altepeter Over a year ago

string(478) " "2e73625b5179497a423434736e", 'cKey2' => "036289E99EA6A48CBDA1DB247E", 'file' => 'V2/api/autoDoc/exampleAPI2.0.1.php' );

You can see it cuts off the opening tag and $data = array(

Matt Altepeter Over a year ago

cat -vte V2/api/autoDoc/test.php <?php$ ^I$data = array($ ^I^I'cKey1' => "2e73625b5179497a423434736e",$ ^I^I'cKey2' => "036289E99EA6A48CBDA1DB247E",$ ^I^I'file' => 'V2/api/autoDoc/exampleAPI2.0.1.php'$ ^I);$ ^I$

Matt Altepeter Over a year ago

yeah I'm not sure what is causing it.. The server the project is running on is 5.3, I tried it locally using mamp on 5.6 and the same thing happened. What version of PHP are you using?

anubhava Over a year ago

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Jan · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-25 19:05:59Z

1

Either use the tokenizer like @Casimir said or (if you insist on using a regex), you could come up with sth. like the following:

$regex = "~
            'cKey\d+'           # search for cKey followed by a digit
            .+?                 # match everything lazily
            ([\"'])             # up to a single/double quote (capture this)
            (?P<string>.*?)     # match everything up to $1
            \1                  # followed by the previously captured group
        ~x";
preg_match_all($regex, $your_string, $matches);

If you want to replace it with sth., consider using preg_replace_callback(), though you were not clear on your expected output.
See a demo on regex101.com. Thanks @WiktorStribiżew for the clarification in the comments.

edited Feb 25, 2016 at 19:05

answered Feb 25, 2016 at 18:43

Jan

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5 Comments

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

When you define the boundaries as double or single quotes you should rely on lazy dot matching, not on the negated character class. Also, (\"|') => ([\"'])

Jan Over a year ago

@WiktorStribiżew: I value your feedback, so would you be so nice to say why using the lazy dot would be better in this case?

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

Check your regex with 'cKey1' => "dsfaasdfasdfasd'fasdf", input.

Jan Over a year ago

@WiktorStribiżew: Thanks Wiktor, appreciated and updated.

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

I like capturing group based solutions more than those PCRE specific only since they are portable. Still, maybe there is no sense using .+? since it is sure there is =>.

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