How to Retrieve Overlapping Matches with Complex Regex and Preg_Match_All in PHP

Question

Have read the following which have some overlap (pun intended!) with the issue I am facing: preg_match_all how to get *all* combinations? Even overlapping ones Overlapping matches with preg_match_all and pattern ending with repeated character

However, I don’t really know how to apply their answers to my issue which is a little more complicated.

My regex that I use with preg_match_all():

/.{240}[^\[]Order[^ ][^\(].{9}/u

With the following string:

56A.  Subject to the provisions of this Act, any decision of the Court or the Appeal Board shall be final and conclusive, and no decision or order of the Court or the Appeal Board shall be challenged, appealed against, reviewed, quashed or called into question in any court and shall not be subject to any Quashing Order, Prohibiting Order, Mandatory Order or injunction in any court on any account.[20/99; 42/2005]

I intended it to match exactly 3 times. The first match has “Quashing Order” 9 characters before the end. The second match has “Prohibiting Order” 9 characters before the end. The third match has “Mandatory Order” 9 characters before the end.

However, as expected it’s only matching the first one, as the expected matches are overlapping.

I applied what I read in the other posts, I tried this:

(?=(.{240}[^\[]Order[^ ][^\(].{9}))

I still don’t get what I need.

How do I solve this?

Are you seeking something like this? https://regex101.com/r/nohGwr/2 — KIKO Software, Jun 14 '19 at 12:00
Or `/\b\w+\s+Order\b/`? See [this demo](https://regex101.com/r/INBDsF/1). Why did you add `.{240}` and `.{9}`? — Wiktor Stribiżew, Jun 14 '19 at 12:04
Why expect three times if only [two have a non-space `[^ ]` after `order`](https://regex101.com/r/h9J79c/1). — bobble bubble, Jun 14 '19 at 12:09
Which text are you referring to when you say overlapping? And what do you mean by 9 characters before the end? — The fourth bird, Jun 14 '19 at 13:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 18 '20 at 12:08

1

You can use

\w+\s+Order\b

See the regex demo.

Regex details

\w+ - one or more word chars
\s+ - 1 or more whitespaces
Order\b - a whole word Order, as \b is a word boundary.

answered Sep 18 '20 at 12:08

Wiktor Stribiżew

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '19 at 14:27

You will need to use a positive look-behind assertion for .{240}, just like the answer you found suggests using a positive look-ahead assertion for .{9}:

/(?<=.{240})[^\[]Order[^ ][^\(](?=.{9})/u

This RE matches your string only twice because of [^ ], as @bobblebubble said. Adjust that part as necessary.

How to Retrieve Overlapping Matches with Complex Regex and Preg_Match_All in PHP

2 Answers2