Avanced Syntax Help with preg_match_all()

2hawks

Greetings everyone.

I am pretty good when it comes to this type of thing, but for whatever reason I am unable to find, or understand the advanced syntax of preg_match_all(). As I understand it, preg_match_all can take a series of expressions, and create an array element for each match. First match on that line: $array[0][0], Second: $array[0][1] Next line being [1][0] [1][1] respectivly. Am I wrong ?

Assuming I am correct, Here's the Problem. I have a bit of data to sift through from a website, the first field is a set of numbers, and the second is a multi-word phrase. I can parse for each of these by themselves perfectly using the following:

preg_match_all("/[A-z ]*<\/a>/i", $contents, $out);
preg_match_all("/[0-9]+<\/td>/", $contents, $out);

However, as I understand it from the documentation I have been over, no body tells how I can put these two expressions together, so that I might be able to access them as a multi-dimensional array.

Some things report no errors but no results, and some things just bomb. This is an example of how I wish to display only for testing of the code:

The data would look something like this:

213545 Haywood jablowme 323234 Eleanor Gasm 324234 I P Freelie 32423 Hot Dickens Cider

I wold like it to display (for later database entry) as such:

213545 Haywood jablowme
323234 Eleanor Gasm
324234 I P Freelie
324232 Hot Dickens Cider

via the following table: (or approximate therof)

echo "<br>1. ".$out[1][0] . ", " . $out[0][0] . "\n";
echo "<br>2. ".$out[2][0] . ", " . $out[0][1] . "\n";
echo "<br>3. ".$out[3][0] . ", " . $out[0][2] . "\n";

Taken straight from the documentation I have found on the subject here, php.net, and the PHP SQL hardcopy. I also syspect that the table for display may not be entirely correct.

I can figure out how to do this the "Long way around", but I am sure there has got to be some slick piece of code to do just this, as I am seeing a lot of examples that I have not yet come close to using with PHP, and I have been using it for a couple of years now.

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be great, and yes, I have the book "Mastering regular expressions" on order.

Thanks in Advance.

Dan.

dave420

If you want to match two bits of related data, such as how you describe, you need to make a pattern that encompasses both...

Take the data

213545 Haywood jablowme 323234 Eleanor Gasm 324234 I P Freelie 32423 Hot Dickens Cider

for example. If you want to split it up between the numbers, you can do this:

preg_match_all("/(\d+) (.*)(?=\d|$)/U", $data, $matches);

and it'll match any number followed by a string of non-numbers, followed by another number (or the end). The ?= defines an assertion, which is like a normal pattern, but isn't included in the matched pattern (if it wasn't an assertion, it would match the first number of the next address, and miss it when it gets to that address).

You'll want to use the last parameter in preg_match_all, where you tell it how to return the data in $matches. PREG_SET_ORDER is what you want, which will group together the matches in their own array within the array. use var_dump() to display the contents of $matches after you match - you'll see how it's arranged.

Is that what you want?