RegExps to clean and split string to array

[Anon]

Hi,

I'm trying to parse a string that looks something like this:

First Name: <COLNAME>user_fname</COLNAME> Last name: <COLNAME>user_lname</COLNAME> Age: <COLNAME>user_age</COLNAME> That's it.

The key is the <COLNAME></COLNAME>-part. I'd like to remove the part "<COLNAME></COLNAME>" and put whatever that string separates into an array.
So, that in the case above, I'd have
$newstring[0]= "Firstname: ";
$newstring[1]= " Last name: ";
$newstring[2]= " Age: ";
$newstring[3]= " That's it.";

However, I don't know what function to use and what RegExp to use.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers!

/Jocke

[Anon]

try

$newstring=preg_split("!<COLNAME>.*?</COLNAME>!",$text);

the ".*?" is the important bit; it matches the shortest amount of stuff between the relevant tags. note: this won't work if you nest your tags. but you example doesn't seem to suffer from that, so this should be okay.

--
rad

[Anon]

Thanks a lot!! I works!
I have to buy the regexp book!

/Jocke