preg_match to return multiple values from string

Question

I want to extract two values from some URLs.

Example URLs:

cricket-ck-game-play
hand-ball-hb-game-play
volley-ball-vb-game-play
soccer-sc-game-play

I want extract the full game name and its short name separately ignoring the -game-play part at the end of the URL.

I've tried the following code which returns 'ck', 'hb', 'vb', 'sc', but not the full name.

preg_match("/(?<=-)[^-]*(?=-game-play)/", $uri, $game);

Actual results I am getting:

array(1) {
  [0]=>
  string(2) "ck"
}

Expected Results:

case:1 (In case of example 1) -  array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(7) "cricket"
  [1]=>
  string(2) "ck"
}

case:2 (In case of example 2) - array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(9) "hand-ball"
  [1]=>
  string(2) "hb"  
}

Are the parts before ck etc always more than 2 chars and are the short names always 2 chars? Are they always characters a-z? — The fourth bird
– The fourth bird, Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 18:55
Yes the parts before 'ck' are always more than 2 chars and also the short names are always 2 chars and are always alphabets only(can be capitals sometimes or Uc sort of) — Kendrick
– Kendrick, Commented Aug 22, 2019 at 19:15

FoulFoot · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-22 18:30:59Z

3

preg_match("/(.+)-([a-z]{2})-/i", $uri, $game);

Grabs everything before two letters bordered by dashes, and then grabs those two letters.

answered Aug 22, 2019 at 18:30

FoulFoot

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Comments

Emma Marcier · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-22 19:00:39Z

1

Maybe, this expression might be somewhat close to what you have in mind:

(.*)-(.{2})(?=-game-play)

Demo 1

or

(.*)-(.*)(?=-game-play)

Demo 2

edited Aug 22, 2019 at 19:00

answered Aug 22, 2019 at 18:34

Emma Marcier

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3 Comments

FoulFoot Over a year ago

Does not result in desired output. Game name can have a hyphen in it.

Kendrick Over a year ago

@Emma Thanks! Your condition 1 worked like a charm!

FoulFoot Over a year ago

These work, but you don't need the lookahead. (.*)-(.*)-game-play is very elegant.

The fourth bird · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-22 19:38:51Z

If the parts before the short name are always more than 3 chars and the short name always consists of 2 chars [a-zA-Z] you could use 2 capturing groups, using quantifiers {3,} and {2} to match the characters.

\b(\w{3,}(?:-(?:\w{3,}))*)-(\w{2})-game-play\b

Explanation

\b Word boundary
( Capture group 1
- \w{3,} Match 3+ times a word char
- (?:-\w{3,})* Repeat 0+ times matching - and 3 or more word chars
) close group
( Capture group 2
- [a-zA-Z]{2} Match 2 times a word char (As per the comments)
) Close group
-game-play Match literally
\b Word boundary

Regex demo | Php demo

Another option is to use preg_split and split on 2 chars a-z surrounded by hyphens in a capturing group and match the rest:

$pattern = "/-([a-z]{2})-.*/";
$str = "cricket-ck-game-play";
print_r(preg_split($pattern, $str, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE | PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY));

Result

Array
(
    [0] => cricket
    [1] => ck
)

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