Parsing

[mikerh9]

I have huge html file. I want to parse the data and get everything between
<b class="class1"> and <!-- Comments -->

What function is good for this purpose?

TH

[weekender]

[man]preg_match[/man]

[Installer]

Or:

$input_str = 'aaaaa<b class="class1">abcdefghijk<!-- Comments -->bbbbbb';
$src_str_1 = '<b class="class1">';
$src_str_2 = '<!-- Comments -->';
$len_str_1 = strlen($src_str_1);
$pos_str_1 = strpos($input_str, $src_str_1);
$pos_str_2 = strpos($input_str, $src_str_2);
$end_str_1 = $pos_str_1 + $len_str_1;
$found_len = $pos_str_2 - $end_str_1;
$found_str = substr($input_str, $end_str_1, $found_len);
echo $found_str;

edit: corrected typo

[weekender]

good stuff, but preg match is a much less costly (in speed & resource usage) way of doing the same thing. Granted, it is a bit of a brainkiller...

[Installer]

...preg match is...much less costly (in speed & resource usage)...

If you say so, but I'd sure like to see your numbers. 🙂

(I think) the straight PHP is more readable and more flexible. For example the code above can easily be put into a generically-reusable function:

function string_between_strings($input_str, $src_str_1, $src_str_2)
{
    $len_str_1 = strlen($src_str_1); 
    $pos_str_1 = strpos($input_str, $src_str_1); 
    $pos_str_2 = strpos($input_str, $src_str_2); 
    $end_str_1 = $pos_str_1 + $len_str_1; 
    $found_len = $pos_str_2 - $end_str_1; 
    $found_str = substr($input_str, $end_str_1, $found_len); 
    return $found_str;
}

[tekky]

Originally posted by Installer
.....(I think) the straight PHP is more readable and more flexible. For example the code above can easily be put into a generically-reusable function:.....

preg_match is PHP and the solution using preg_match would be just as reusable as your long way of doing it...

only difference is speed and memory usage in getting the result really

[Installer]

Uh-huh, but I don't think so. To be convinced I'd need to see: a) some code (should be easy enough); b) some speed data c); some memory usage data.

[tekky]

Originally posted by Installer
Uh-huh, but I don't think so. To be convinced I'd need to see: a) some code (should be easy enough); b) some speed data c); some memory usage data.

Well its currently 2 to 1 on this topic, so I would say its your obligation to prove us wrong 😉

not to mention I've done optimising in the past and know many of the PHP stuff that is faster one way or the other 🙂

[weekender]

Originally posted by tekky
Well its currently 2 to 1 on this topic

and it's currently 3000 posts to 300 (this is my thousandth post! yay)

i feel a challenge - i might do a bit of timing this afternoon (if i ever get out of bed). if i do, i'll post the results here.

will also look into memory usage measuring, but not too sure

[Installer]

Well its currently 2 to 1 on this topic, so I would say its your obligation to prove us wrong

Well, I don't feel so because all I did was post an alternative. The claims of speed and resource usage improvement were not made by me. But my code is posted; someone else post their code (in reusable function form, please) and I'll do my best to test mine against theirs.

But of course it wouldn't be fair as it stands because my function doesn't return all the information that "preg_match()" does. So I'll also try to come up with a function that does. If I do, I'll post it here. And if I do, maybe you can optimize it for me. 🙂

BTW, we're all friends here, right?

[tekky]

Originally posted by Installer
Well, I don't feel so because all I did was post an alternative. The claims of speed and resource usage improvement were not made by me. But my code is posted; someone else post their code (in reusable function form, please) and I'll do my best to test mine against theirs.

But of course it wouldn't be fair as it stands because my function doesn't return all the information that "preg_match()" does. So I'll also try to come up with a function that does. If I do, I'll post it here. And if I do, maybe you can optimize it for me. 🙂

BTW, we're all friends here, right?

Valid point of view, but if you look at it from our perspective, we've done these kind of things before... it would be more beneficial for you to attempt it first and learn how if you are unfamiliar with how to.

Regarding optimizing, sure thing 🙂 but about the friends.... wellllll uhm.... that depends :p j/k

[Installer]

edit: I'll back out; I didn't mean to start a religious war. For those who want short code, here's a one-liner a la perl:

$out=substr($in,strpos($in,$s1)+strlen($s1),
strpos($in,$s2)-(strpos($in,$s1)+strlen($s1)));

[mikerh9]

I want to find a pattern in the string. The string is html page.

The preg_match function returns 1 (true) if pattern is found, otherwire it is false.

The pattern is regular sentence "Just a sentence".
Below is actual code. However, it return 0 (false). But the string contains the pattern.
Any ideas, what is wrong here?

$a = "/^Just a sentence$/";
$test = preg_match($a, $target);