PHP extract (parsing) string

Question

I'm using a regex to check a string for a certain format.

preg_match('/^\/answer ([1-9][0-9]*) (.{1,512})$/', $str, $hit, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE);

Using this regex, the posted string needs to have this format:

/answer n x

n -> an integer > 0

x -> a string, 512 chars maximum

Now how to extract "n" and "x" the easiest way using PHP? For example:

/answer 56 this is my sample text

Should lead to:

$value1 = 56;
$value2 = "this is my sample text";

$hit stores matches. Have you printed it after preg_match? — u_mulder
– u_mulder, Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 20:16
No need to use PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE then just access $hit[1] and $hit[2]. — AbraCadaver
– AbraCadaver, Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 20:51

u_mulder · Accepted Answer · 2017-07-03 20:22:47Z

1

Running this simple piece of code

<?php
$hit = [];
$str = '/answer 56 this is my sample text';
preg_match('/^\/answer ([1-9][0-9]*) (.{1,512})$/', $str, $hit, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE);
echo'<pre>',print_r($hit),'</pre>';

Will show you, that $hit has following values:

<pre>Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => /answer 56 this is my sample text
            [1] => 0
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 56
            [1] => 8
        )

    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => this is my sample text
            [1] => 11
        )

)
1</pre>

Here:

$hit[0][0] is full string that matches your pattern
$hit[1][0] is a substring that matches pattern [1-9][0-9]*
$hit[2][0] is a substring that matches pattern .{1,512}

So,

$value1 = $hit[1][0];
$value2 = $hit[2][0];

answered Jul 3, 2017 at 20:22

u_mulder

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