PHP how to retrieve a string inbetween 2 characters?

Question

I'm having trouble with this, I did find a couple of reg ex examples but I can't seem to get them to work for me.

$string = '1. A post-hardcore band from Brazil 2. A rock band from Sweden';

I need to retrieve everything inbetween the "1." and "2."

Is there some kind of simple splitting function in PHP that I could use like so?

$result = string_between_chars($string, "1. ", "2 .");

Or, if I'm matching for numbers

preg_match('~(1.|2.|3.|4.)~', ($string), $matches

Is there anyway I could modify this to be left with the result of

[0] => 1. A post-hardcore band from Brazil
[1] => 2. A rock band from Sweden

Please show the code of what you've already tried – kero Nov 17 '13 at 12:28 — kero, Nov 17 '13 at 12:28

Lajos Veres · Answer 1 · 2013-11-17T12:44:17.237

0

I think this can be a solution:

<?php
function string_between_chars($string, $from, $to){
  preg_match("/$from(.*)$to/",$string,$match);
  return $match[1];
}

Use it like this:

$result = string_between_chars($string, '1\. ', '2\. ');

Add a backslash before dots. Dots has special meaning in regular expressions. You can escape it with the backslash.

edited Nov 17 '13 at 12:44

answered Nov 17 '13 at 12:30

Lajos Veres

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Thanks for the answer. Unfortunately nothing is being returned using this. – Nick Shears Nov 17 '13 at 12:35
Ehh. the result is in the $match[1]. I modify the answer to be a real function. – Lajos Veres Nov 17 '13 at 12:41

OGHaza · Answer 2 · 2013-11-17T16:43:28.687

The following regex works:

/\d+\..*?(?=\d+\.|$)/

In PHP:

$str = '1. A post-hardcore band from Brazil 2. A rock band from Sweden' 
         .'3. A rock band from Hawaii 4. A metal band from Germany';
preg_match_all('/\d+\..*?(?=\d+\.|$)/',$str,$matches);
print_r($matches);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1. A post-hardcore band from Brazil 
            [1] => 2. A rock band from Sweden
            [2] => 3. A rock band from Hawaii 
            [3] => 4. A metal band from Germany
        )
)

Working Example

Enissay · Answer 3 · 2013-11-17T13:08:30.540

0

Hi you can simply use this regex as long as no digits in the sentences:

(\d\.\s*[^\d]+)

Demo

But if digits are in the sentences, check @OGHaza's solution instead :)

edited Nov 17 '13 at 13:08

answered Nov 17 '13 at 12:53

Enissay

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1

matching `\s*` is unnecessary, which leaves you with exactly my regex. – OGHaza Nov 17 '13 at 13:00
Yes undeed, just in case there's multiple spaces.. who knows :) – Enissay Nov 17 '13 at 13:03
Yes but it makes literally no difference to the matches. `.` matches whitespace, so `\s*.*? = .*?` And it is the last thing in the lookahead and the `*` means match whether or not theres whitespace. So it makes 0 difference to any matches. – OGHaza Nov 17 '13 at 13:05
Oh damn, I see your point, you're totally right.... – Enissay Nov 17 '13 at 13:07

PHP how to retrieve a string inbetween 2 characters?

3 Answers3