extracting quoted text

[Anon]

I need to extract quoted text as a single array entry where the quoted text could come anywhere in a string and be any number of words long, e.g.

input could be: run "running shoes" marathon "fastest time"

I need this to be returned in an array
$array[0]=run;
$array[1]=running shoes;
$array[2]=marathon;
$array[3]=fastest time;

and so on.
I don't even know where to begin.
thanks
B

[phpiscool]

$array = explode("\"", $string);

[[deleted]]

You can use preg_match_all()
that uses regular expressions to find a certain pattern in a string, and grab the matches:

$sString = 'run "running shoes" marathon "fastest time"';
preg_match_all("/\"(.*?)\"/", $sString, $aArray);
print_r($aArray[1]);

In this case the pattern is "(.?)"
this will match a quote, then a random number of randomcharacters, then another quote. The ? means that the random characters can be anything except what comes after the (.?), so it will stop at the next quote.

[[deleted]]

oops, I thought you wanted to get the quoted text, not just every thing between any quotes.

[Anon]

I need to parse the input so that quoted text is treated as a phrase and unquoted text is treated as individual words.

the input can be anything in any order e.g.
"hey there" look sit stay "come here"

the array would has to be initialized as
array[1]=hey there;
array[2]=look;
array[3]=sit;
array[4]=stay;
array[5]=come here;

and so on. Using explode("\"",$string) works only if the user is kind enough to input quoted phrases between, before, or after individual words.

I'm digging through my books trying to find info on the preg_match_all function.
Thanks
B