preg_match just return everything

juschillinnow

I am trying to do an if(preg_match) but it just returns all values instead of only the ones matched. Why?

$fsear = explode(",", $fsearch);
for($a=0; $a<count($fsear); $a++)
{
    $match = $fsear[$a];
    if(preg_match("/$match/i", $fdescription))
    print "<tr><td><b><font face='arial, helvetica, verdana' size='1' color='#0000FF'><a href='$PHP_SELF?itemsitemap=$itemsitemap&itemID=$itemID&category=$category&subcategory=$subcategory&sI=$sI&hS=$hS'>$product $row[2] $row[1]</a></FONT></b><br><font face='arial, helvetica, verdana' size='1' color='#000000'>$desc</FONT><BR></td></tr>";
    else
    print "<tr><td>None</td></tr>";
}

This prints out the href for every loop when it should only return two. if I echo out something like $match inside if the if statement, then it returns match only twice, but still prints out the href for every item and not just the matches

Floodboy

$fsear = explode(",", $fsearch);
for($a=0; $a<count($fsear); $a++)
{
    $match = $fsear[$a];
    if(preg_match("/$match/i", $fdescription)){
    print "<tr><td><b><font face='arial, helvetica, verdana' size='1' color='#0000FF'><a href='$PHP_SELF?itemsitemap=$itemsitemap&itemID=$itemID&category=$category&subcategory=$subcategory&sI=$sI&hS=$hS'>$product $row[2] $row[1]</a></FONT></b><br><font face='arial, helvetica, verdana' size='1' color='#000000'>$desc</FONT><BR></td></tr>";
    }else{
    print "<tr><td>None</td></tr>";
   }
}

I think you're missing this keys {}

xblue

the brackets are not needed if there is only one statement (but it is highly recommended to use them).

juschillinnow, would you be able to provide an example of $fdescription and $fsear?

btw, why do you do need preg_match()? wouldn't stristr() do?

juschillinnow

btw, why do you do need preg_match()? wouldn't stristr() do?

yeah probably, but it's just one of those things where you can't figure out, but for your own sanity, MUST!!!

what I had to do was put:
print "<tr><td><a href='$PHP_SELF?itemsitemap=$itemsitemap&itemID=$itemID&category=$category&subcategory=$subcategory&sI=$sI&hS=$hS'>$product $row[2] $row[1]</a> $desc </td></tr>";

inside of a function and then call the function after the preg_match. wouldn't work otherwise. Strange! It works now though