How do I extract a piece of a multi-line string with regex?

Question

I have a multi-line string that I'm trying to extract, but it is not returning any pieces.

$input = '<script>
buffy = 1;
vampire = {
response: [{"sleep":"night"}]
};
</script>';

preg_match( '~response:(.*?)};~', $input, $output );

print_r( $output );

I am trying to extract [{"sleep":"night"}]

Either that, or [this one](https://stackoverflow.com/a/45981809). Use the `s` modifier: [`(?s)response:\s*\K.*?(?=\s*};)`](https://regex101.com/r/o9EuIY/1). — InSync, Aug 07 '23 at 01:30
Try [`response\s*:\s*\K((?:\[(?1)\]|\{(?1)\}|[^][{}]*?)*)`](https://regex101.com/r/L3wW2C/1) — Hao Wu, Aug 07 '23 at 07:10
`.` Matches any character other than newline (or including line terminators with the /s flag) . So you need to replace `.*?` with `[\s\S]*?` — Oliver Hao, Aug 07 '23 at 08:22

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 07 '23 at 00:36

2

check this out :

$input = '<script>
buffy = 1;
vampire = {
response: [{"sleep":"night"}]
};
</script>';

preg_match('/response:\s*([^;]+);/', $input, $output);

print_r($output[1]);

answered Aug 07 '23 at 00:36

Freeman

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That's getting there -- but there's a `}` left over – Kermit Aug 07 '23 at 01:27
@Kermit is this what you want ? `preg_match( '/response:\s*(\[.*?\])/', $input, $output );` – Freeman Aug 07 '23 at 06:06

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 07 '23 at 06:47

'~response: (\[\{[^}]+}])~'

response    interpret as text
:           interpret as text
            interpret as text (one space)
(           start of capturing group
\[          interpret as text
\{          interpret as text
[^}]        anything up to the next }
+           ... and do this one or more times
}           interpret as text
]           interpret as text
)           end of capturing group

How do I extract a piece of a multi-line string with regex?

2 Answers2