Using Regex For Checking Specific String

Question

I have a PHP code to check a string inside collection of strings, my code something like this:

$string = '01122028K,02122028K,03122028M-1';
$search = '03122029M'
echo preg_match('/\b' . $search . '\b/', $string);

It returns TRUE...

How can I do with my regex to return it FALSE, I want it only return TRUE when the string in variable $search is actually match in variable $string, so $search = "03122029M" would return FALSE $search = "03122029M-1" would return TRUE

Thank you

look here http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5752829/regular-expression-for-exact-match-of-a-word — BenB, Mar 13 '13 at 17:20

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 13 '13 at 17:24

1

Don't use a regular expression.

echo in_array($search, explode(',', $string));

answered Mar 13 '13 at 17:24

Barmar

741,623
53
500
612

Thank you Barmar, I think this is the good & quick solution for my problem. It works.. :-) – Plipus Tel Mar 14 '13 at 00:25

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 13 '13 at 17:18

The problem is with the boundary spearators you are using: \b includes the -.

You could separate on whitespaces and commans instead, using a character class. Also include the start of line, and of line in the test to catch cases at end of line:

preg_match('/(^|[\s,])' . $search . '([\s,]|$)/', $string);

lc. · Answer 3 · 2013-03-13T17:25:49.433

0

I don't think you really need a regular expression here. Moreover, you'd also be opening up yourself to an escaping nightmare.

If you add a comma to the start and end of $string, you can match the entire $search as a single entity by wrapping it in commas as well:

echo (strpos(',' . $string . ',', ',' . $search . ',') !== FALSE)

edited Mar 13 '13 at 17:25

answered Mar 13 '13 at 17:20

lc.

113,939
20
158
187

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 13 '13 at 17:20

\b includes - in what you're matching. Match specifically off of commas instead - you can do this by just adding a comma to the start and end of the string.

$string = '01122028K,02122028K,03122028M-1';
$string = ','.$string.','
$search = '03122029M'
echo preg_match('/,' . $search . ',/', $string);

Using Regex For Checking Specific String

4 Answers4