php - find match in string

Question

I'm trying to work out how to find a match in a string. I'm looking for a match on any of the following - = ? [] ~ # ! 0 - 9 A-Z a-z and I need to know what its matched on .

Eg: matched on !, or matched on = and # and ?

Normally I'd use this:

$a = 'How are you?';

if (strpos($a, 'are') !== false) {
    echo 'true';
}

However I'm not sure how to do that so it looks up the characters needed. Also where I may have [], It could be [] or [xxxx] where xxxx could be any number of alpha numeric characters.

I need to match and any of the characters listed, return the characters so I know what was matched and if the [] contain any value return that as well.

Eg:

$a = 'DeviceLocation[West12]'; Would return: $match = '[]'; $match_val= 'West12';

$a = '#=Device'; Would return:$match = '#,=';

$a= '?[1234]=#Martin'; Would return: $match = '?, [], =, #'; $match_val= '1234';

Can any one advise how I can do this. Thanks

DeviceLocation[West12] what do you want to find in this string ? — Owais Aslam
– Owais Aslam, Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 8:58
Try if (preg_match('/[][A-Za-z0-9!#~?=-]/', $str, $m)) { echo "Matched: " . $m[0]; } — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 8:59
@OwaisArain - I'd want to match on the [] and if possible grab the value from between. — Rocket
– Rocket, Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 9:01
So, you only need the string between square brackets? See ideone.com/8L3naA — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 9:02
I need to match and any of the characters listed, return the characters so I know what was matched and if the [] contain any value return that as well. — Rocket
– Rocket, Commented Oct 4, 2016 at 9:04

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-04 10:44:25Z

1

Well, that requirements are a bit vague, but that is what I deduced:

1) if there is an alphanumeric string inside square brackets get it as a separate value
2) all other mentioned chars should be matched one by one and then imploded.

You may use the following regex to get the values you need:

$re = '@\[([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\]|[][=?~#!]@';

Details:

\[ - a [
([a-zA-Z0-9]+) - Group 1 value capturing 1 or more alphanumeric symbols
\] - a closing ]
| - or
[][=?~#!] - a single char, one of the defined chars in the set.

See the regex demo. The most important here is the code that gets the matches (feel free to adapt):

$re = '@\[([a-zA-Z0-9]+)\]|[][=?~#!]@';
$strs =array('DeviceLocation[West12]', '#=Device', '?[1234]=#Martin');

foreach ($strs as $str) {
    preg_match_all($re, $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
    $results = array();
    $match_val = "";
    foreach ($matches as $m) {
        if (!empty($m[1])) {
            $match_val = trim($m[1], "[]");
            array_push($results, "[]");
        } else {
            array_push($results, $m[0]);
        } 
    }
    echo "Value: " . $match_val . "\n";
    echo "Symbols: " . implode(", ", $results);
    echo "\n-----\n";
}

See the PHP demo

Output:

Value: West12
Symbols: []
-----
Value: 
Symbols: #, =
-----
Value: 1234
Symbols: ?, [], =, #
-----

answered Oct 4, 2016 at 10:44

Wiktor Stribiżew

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6 Comments

Rocket Over a year ago

that looks perfect. Thank you.

Rocket Over a year ago

I'd like to turn this into a function. How do I return the Value and Symbols separately ?

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

You may return an array. See stackoverflow.com/questions/3451906/….

Rocket Over a year ago

Just thought of one other possible scenario.. [Device]=test Is there anyway to get the word test as well in a new variable ?

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

If you mean you want to get chunks of word chars as yet another variable, you may try adding another capture group alternative (\w+). See ideone.com/OfBfK4. Note how the output also changes for other test strings.

|

Mateusz Palichleb · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-04 08:58:39Z

1

Please use Regular Expressions, e.g using preg_match

answered Oct 4, 2016 at 8:58

Mateusz Palichleb

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Comments

Owais Aslam · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-04 09:32:13Z

1

Try this

It will match the string in []

preg_match_all("/\[([^\]]*)\]/", $text, $matches);

And this will match string after ? and #=

preg_match_all("/^#=(\S+)|\?(.*)/", $text, $matches);

var_dump($matches);

edited Oct 4, 2016 at 9:32

answered Oct 4, 2016 at 9:06

Owais Aslam

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1 Comment

Wiktor Stribiżew Over a year ago

OP does not need to extract all texts inside square brackets. See the question: Eg: matched on !, or matched on = and # and ?

Ricardo Ortega Magaña · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-04 08:58:17Z

0

You need regular expressions to check for any text inside another with different properties, here is a simple tutorial on that link.

answered Oct 4, 2016 at 8:58

Ricardo Ortega Magaña

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