how to select a substring that starts with x and ends with y through multilines and replace it

Question

I want to find a regex that selects a specific string that is defined by it's beginning & ending characters, through multilines, to be replaced by empty string. suppose that I have the following string for example:

I want to select every string that begins with -- and ends with ;

$str = 'some text --text_to_be_replaced; and another text -- text
to
be
replaced; and some text...;';

what I've tried:

$str = preg_replace('/--(.*);/s', '', $str);

but the returned result is: some text while the expected result is some text and another text and some text...;

It appears a detail is missing: what is expected result if you have `some text --text -- to be_replaced; here`? — Wiktor Stribiżew, Nov 29 '18 at 11:06
@WiktorStribiżew thanks, could you please re-post your expression here in the comments, it could be beneficial regardless of the edge-cases — Mohammad, Nov 29 '18 at 11:13

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 29 '18 at 11:02

0

Your regex is too greedy, try this one:

/--([^;]*);/s

Demo

answered Nov 29 '18 at 11:02

mrzasa

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how to select a substring that starts with x and ends with y through multilines and replace it

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