Regex Multiple Matches

[Anon]

I have a file that I need to grab the content between 2 spots.

Example.

#STARTPOINT
grab this

#ENDPOINT

I can do this just fine by using:
ereg('#STARTPOINT.*#ENDPOINT', $string, $array);

My Problem is, that there are more occurences of #STARTPOINT and #END POINT.

So if I have something like this:

---

#STARTPOINT
this is the first one
#ENDPOINT

blah blah blha

#STARTPOINT
this is the second one

#ENDPOINT

When I do my regex, it will grab:

---

this is the first one
#ENDPOINT

blah blah blha

#STARTPOINT

this is the second one

How do I stop it from being 'greedy'? I want it to stop at the first occurence of #ENDPOINT and not the last. Any ideas would be amazing at this point.

Derek

[vsego]

1. you can use Perl regexp (preg_match())

2. you can use a function like this:

function negateString($s) {
$res = "[^".$s[0]."]";
for ($i = 1; $i < strlen($s); $i++)
$res .= "|".substr($s, 0, $i)."[^{".$s[$i]."]";}
return "($res)";
}

Your rewritten regexp:
ereg("#STARTPOINT".negateString("#ENDPOINT")."*#ENDPOINT', $string, $array);