PHP Regular expression Advanced techniques and examples (Perl compatible)

Source: Internet
Author: User
Tags closing tag php and php regular expression regular expression

Regular Expressions (Regular Expression, abbr. Regex) are powerful and can be used to find the information you need in a large string of words character. It takes advantage of the conventional character-structure expressions to function. Unfortunately, simple regular expressions are not nearly as powerful for some advanced applications. The structure of the filter is more complex, and you may need to use an advanced regular expression.

This article introduces you to the advanced techniques of regular expressions. We have selected eight commonly used concepts, with example parsing, each of which is a simple way of satisfying a complex requirement. If you have a lack of understanding of the basic concepts of regular, please read this article, or this tutorial, or Wikipedia entry.

The regular syntax here applies to PHP and is compatible with Perl.

1. Greed/laziness

All the regular operators that can be qualified more than once are greedy. They match the target string as much as possible, which means the result will be as long as possible. Unfortunately, this practice is not always what we want. Therefore, we add the "lazy" qualifier to solve the problem. Add "?" after each greedy operator Allows an expression to match only the shortest possible length. In addition, the modifier "U" can also be inert to operators that can be qualified more than once. Understanding the difference between greed and laziness is the basis for using advanced regular expressions.

Greedy operator

The operator * matches the previous expression 0 times or more than 0 times. It is a greedy operator. Take a look at the following example:

Preg_match ('/

Period (.) can represent any character other than a line break. The regular expression above matches the H1 label and all content within the label. It uses a period (.) and an asterisk (*) to match all content within the label. The results are as follows:

The entire string is returned. The * operator will match everything-even the middle H1 closing tag. Because it is greedy, matching the entire string is in line with its interests maximization principle.

Lazy operator

Make the expression lazy by slightly modifying the formula above and adding a question mark (?):

/

It would feel that the task would be complete only by matching the tag at the end of the first H1.

Another greedy operator with similar attributes is {n,}. It represents the previous match pattern repeat n or n times above, if not add a question mark, it will look for as many repetitions as possible, plus, it will be as little as possible (of course, "Repeat n times" the least).

# Build Strings

$str = ' hihihi oops hi ';

# Use greedy {n,} operators to match

Preg_match ('/(HI) {2,}/', $str, $matches); # Matches[0] will be ' hihihi '

# using the aborted {n,}? Operator matching

Preg_match ('/(HI) {2,}?/', $str, $matches); # Matches[0] will be ' hihi '

Related Article

Contact Us

The content source of this page is from Internet, which doesn't represent Alibaba Cloud's opinion; products and services mentioned on that page don't have any relationship with Alibaba Cloud. If the content of the page makes you feel confusing, please write us an email, we will handle the problem within 5 days after receiving your email.

If you find any instances of plagiarism from the community, please send an email to: info-contact@alibabacloud.com and provide relevant evidence. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days.

A Free Trial That Lets You Build Big!

Start building with 50+ products and up to 12 months usage for Elastic Compute Service

  • Sales Support

    1 on 1 presale consultation

  • After-Sales Support

    24/7 Technical Support 6 Free Tickets per Quarter Faster Response

  • Alibaba Cloud offers highly flexible support services tailored to meet your exact needs.