preg_match_all() matched string position?

vermaha

Can I get the exact string position of a preg_match or preg_match_all matched string? I would like to check some tags around such a match (i.e. do some substr stuff) in a couple of HTML pages.

I checked the latest PHP manual. One of the possible flags for preg_match_all is PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE, which returns the "offset value". (available from PHP 4.3.0) Unfortunately there's no example...

The manual says: "Note that this changes the return value in an array where every element is an array consisting of the matched string at offset 0 and it's string offset into subject at offset 1."

Could someone explain the meaning of "it's string offset into subject at offset 1". I'm lost.

When I run my preg_match_all looking for <a name="xxxx">something</a> tags, I get the result I want. Something like:

$matches[0][$i] the complete match (<a name="xxxx">something</a>
$matches[1][$i] xxxx
$matches[2][$i] something

But how do I retrieve that offset value? And if so, is this a way to determine the position of the matched string?

thnx

Weedpacket

Originally posted by vermaha
Could someone explain the meaning of "it's string offset into subject at offset 1". I'm lost.

Off-hand I'd guess something like it replaces "something" with array("something",something's offset) where the offset is of course the starting position in the original string of the corresponding matched piece.

Not having a copy of PHP4.3 handy, I'm not in a position to experiment (by trying it out and var_dump() ing the $matches array to see what's in it).

No, that documentation is not very well written.