Regex pattern to return html tag attributes as array

[marcobr]

Is it possible to write a pattern to match a html tag with indeterminate number of attributes and return these attributes as array with attribute name as key and value as value???

e.g.: <user_data name="Ben" email="ben@ben" ... /> will return $user_data = array('name'=>'Ben', 'email'=>'ben@ben');

$tag = '<user_data name="Ben" email="ben@ben" />';
preg_match('/<user_data\s+((.*)=(.*))*?\s*\/>/', $tag, $attribs);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($attribs);
echo '</pre>';

I have tried the code above, but it's not working as intended.

If it'is impossible to achieve above array using only a single pattern, the array below also is accepted, thus I can use it to build an array as intended.

Array
(
    [0] => 'name'  

    [1] => 'Ben'
    [2] => 'email'
    [3] => 'ben@ben' 
)

Another any approach are welcome too...

[dta]

first off: youre gonna learn something 🙂
second off: you're gonna hate me in the process
third off: i lied about both

this is an adapted function i wrote which i ripped out of one of my php-gtk programs. anyways, this suites you well, and seems to fit your problem

it is WAY more dynamic than a regex and its definatly easier to update.

this thing will read from an xml file (nodes look like your data string) and will throw them into a multi-dimensional array.

ok, just download/test it and youll get what im saying

((ps: if you can think of a more constructive way to spend my time while on the phone with my girlfriend, let me know 😃))

-rob/che

[dta]

oh, by the way, use this to dump the attributes

foreach($def as $k=>$v){
	echo "Attrib Dump for Record [$k]:<br>";
	foreach($v as $key=>$val){
		echo "$key = $val<br>";
	}
}

[marcobr]

Thank you anyway dta, but i need something that isn't so very strict to xml... 🙁