Need regular expression to search inside string

Question

I need regular expression to search for comma if it appears more than once inside || and || and return the string between || and ||. For eg. consider this string:

$str = "http://www.test.com||abd-asd,asf,asfdsf[asf[s]asf,http://www.test1.com||asfsaf";

so after running regular expression on above string, it should return:

abd-asd,asf,asfdsf[asf[s]asf,http://www.test1.com

excluding || and ||. I have to use this in my PHP code.

Show what you've attempted, and we'll try to help fix it. Otherwise this is just "gimme the codez". — Marc B, Jul 17 '12 at 17:28
This question contradicts what your profile say: `I spend my spare time often in researching` — Adi, Jul 17 '12 at 17:29
Regular expressions are better-suited for matching patterns, less so for searching. — Alex W, Jul 17 '12 at 17:29
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/357814/when-is-it-best-to-use-regular-expressions-over-basic-string-spliting-substrin — Alex W, Jul 17 '12 at 17:41

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 17 '12 at 17:34

1

if (preg_match(
    '/(?<=\|\|) # Assert starting position directly after ||<
    [^,|]*,     # Match any number of characters except , or |; then a ,
    [^,|]*,     # twice (so we have matched at least two commas)
    [^|]*       # Then match anything except | characters
    (?=\|\|)    # until we are right before ||
    /x', 
    $subject, $regs)) {
    $result = $regs[0];
} else {
    $result = "";
}

answered Jul 17 '12 at 17:34

Tim Pietzcker

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Never thought it was that easy. :) This really works out. Thanks a lot. – codelearner Jul 17 '12 at 17:47
Tim, can you modify it a bit to match if it appears more than once? This only show matched string in first || and ||, for subsequent appearance it ignores. – codelearner Jul 17 '12 at 18:17
ok, I have changed preg_match to preg_match_all and it works. – codelearner Jul 17 '12 at 18:31

Need regular expression to search inside string

1 Answers1