String filtering...i think?

[mandrake]

what I'm trying to develop is a php script that will pull the packets(RX/TX) from each of my interfaces on my router. I will then use the number of packets as variables in a Flash file...I'm new to php, but rapidly learning...so far I'm managed to come up with a php script that will get the results I need...the only problem is I want ONLY the number of packets, take a look:

<?php

exec("ifconfig eth0", $results);
echo $results[3];

?>

and the Output:
RX packets:587787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0

what I need is the packets number(587787) and nothing else...I've tried using filters, chunk and matching and haven't come up with anything...does anyone have any ideas to help me...would be MUCH appreciated!

[ednark]

you need to use regular expressions

[man]preg_match[/man] or [man]ereg_match[/man]

here is the preg_ solution:

you want to start from 'packets:' and read everything up to the space... i think that would give you want you want

the regular expression to do that would be:

/packets🙁\d+)\s/

so our php call looks like:

preg_match( '/packets🙁\d+)\s/', $result, $matches );

this reads its matches into an array $matches, much like your exec() reads into $results.

and my test code looks like :

<?php

/// exec("ifconfig eth0", $results);
$results = array ( 
    'RX packets:587787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets:387787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets:287 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 '
);

foreach ( $results as $result ) {
    $found = preg_match( '/packets:(\d+)\s/', $result, $matches );
    if ( $found ) {
        echo "Packets found: {$matches[1]}<br>";
    } else {
        echo "No packets found in '$result'<br>";
    }
}

?>

which shows on my computer

Packets found: 587787
No packets found in 'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 '
Packets found: 387787
No packets found in 'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 '
Packets found: 287

[mandrake]

hmmm, this is the output I'm getting...I can't seem to get yours?

No packets found in ' RX packets:797347 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0'

...it doesn't seem to find any matches(found)...

[ednark]

ok try this on for size...

maybe you don't have preg_compiled into your version of php... which must be pretty old not to come standard with preg ... or perhaps someone compiled your own and opted out of it....

try translating my preg_ to and ereg() it should be a good exercise... not to hard..

or here is a roll your own string parser that does what you want... though this is highly non-optimized...but i tested this with what you see below and it seems to work... i left the test echo's in so you could uncomment them and see what my prog is thinking

<?php
/// exec("ifconfig eth0", $results);
$results = array ( 
    'RX packet:oops packets:587787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets:387787 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets: errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 ',
    'RX packets:287 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 '
);

foreach ( $results as $result ) {
    echo "STRING : $result <br>";
    echo "PACKETS : ". findPacketsInString($result) ."<br><br>";
/*
    $found = preg_match( '/packets:(\d+)\s/', $result, $matches );
    if ( $found ) {
        echo "Packets found: {$matches[1]}<br>";
    } else {
        echo "No packets found in '$result'<br>";
    }
*/
}

function findPacketsInString($string)
{
    $packets = array();
    $strlen = strlen($string);

/// if we think we might be looking at 'packets:'
$pre_string = " packets:";
$pre_length = strlen($pre_string);
$pre_i = 0;
$pre_start_i = NULL;

$end_char  = " ";

/// what we are doing :    searching, packets
$_state_ = searching;

$digits = array( '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9' );

for ( $i=0; $i<$strlen; $i++ ) {
//echo "'". $string{$i} ."'";
        switch ( $_state_ ) {
            case 'packets':
//echo " &lt;-- we have found the packets";
                while ( in_array($string{$i},$digits) ) {
//echo " : ".$string{$i} ;
                    $packets[] = $string{$i};
                    $i++;
                }
                /// the character after the digits must be a space
                /// if it is not
                if ( $string{$i} !== $end_char ) {
                    /// we must renig the whole match
                    $_state_ = 'searching';
                    $packest = array();
                    $pre_i = 0;
                    $i = $pre_start_i;

            /// yes we have found all of out packets
            } else {
                /// leave the switch and for loop : 4 levels at one time
                break(2);
            }
            break;
        case 'searching':
        default:
            /// if this matches the char matches the next char we want from pre_string
            if ( $string{$i} == $pre_string{$pre_i} ) {
//echo " &lt;-- pre({$pre_i}) : '". $pre_string{$pre_i} ."'";
                    if ( $pre_start_i == NULL  ) {
                        $pre_start_i = $i;
//echo " &lt;-- pre_start_i = {$pre_start_i} ";
                    }
                    if ( $pre_start_i == NULL ) {
                        $pre_start_i == $i;
                    }
                    $pre_i++;
                    if ( $pre_i == $pre_length ) {
                        $_state_ = 'packets';
                    }
                /// we have a failed match
                } else {
//echo " &lt;-- pre({$pre_i}) !== '". $pre_string{$pre_i} ."' FAILURE";
                    /// if we have previously been trying to match
                    if ( $pre_i != 0 && $pre_start_i !== NULL ) {
                        /// reset pre_i
                        $pre_i = 0;
                        /// reset i to start one character after we started last time
                        $i = $pre_start_i; # end of loop should give up $i++
                        $pre_start_i = NULL;
                    }//if
                }// if else
        }// switch
//echo "<br>";
    }//for
    return $packets = implode('',$packets);
}//function
?>

[mandrake]

that works! Thankyou very much for your fast response, and well coded instructions...

[ednark]

hehe :eek:

the brute force method usually works... however i would be carefull about calling my example well coded... you might offend actually talented people

[mandrake]

well, you're ok in my books -- you helped my solve my problem, that's all I'm concerned about!

is there a way for the output to only display the number of packets and nothing else...the output I'm getting is

Packets=
Packets=
Packets=
Packets=2342342
Packets=

like it's echo(ing) "Packets=". findPacketsInString($result) ." " until digits are actually found...is it possible to just have the digit results like:

Packets=2342342

[ednark]

my findPacketsInString() function should only return the number... if its printing out extra lines step through the version you have and remove or comment out any code you have that make echo or print statements from inside the function

i had some in there... so make sure you ahve removed all code but the function... if you left in my test code above it, you might want to remove it

[mandrake]

ok, got that fixed...is it possibleto tweak this script to be used to filter an ip address 22.224.22.242, I noticed that when I tried plugging it in is returns 22 and doesn't go pass the period...

[ednark]

if you want anything more than this gives you...

you should just invest some time in trying to figure out why you install of php does not run the preg_ functions

......

however if you want to adjust my function

you can change the
$pre_string char and $end_char and my function will return anything inbetween the pre_string and the end_char

if you know what comes before what you want and after... my function will return it....

again however... just figure out how to use either the ereg or preg regular expressions

[intenz]

Try...

$bla = 'RX packets:587787 errors:0 dropped: 0 overruns: 0';
$parts = explode(' ',$bla);
$parts2 = explode(':',$parts[1]);
echo $parts2[1];