Is preg better than ereg?

[Volitics]

Hello;

I read somewhere that the "preg" functions are better than the "ereg" functions. I'm told that the "preg" functions work twice as fast as the "ereg" functions.

It's my understanding that 'preg" is Perl compatible whereas "ereg" is different than Perl.

I am familiar with "ereg". I have not yet learned "preg".

Before I go to all of the trouble to learn how the "preg" functions work can somebody tell me are the "preg" functions that much better than the "ereg" functions?

Thanks.

[mtmosier]

Tip: preg_replace(), which uses a Perl-compatible regular expression syntax, is often a faster alternative to ereg_replace().

Quoth the manual.

That said, unless your script is extremely time sensitive (in which case you should profile both methods), I'd say you're better off using whichever you prefer.

[Volitics]

thanks.

[Weedpacket]

Also sayth the manual:

Tip: PHP also supports regular expressions using a Perl-compatible syntax using the PCRE functions. Those functions support non-greedy matching, assertions, conditional subpatterns, and a number of other features not supported by the POSIX-extended regular expression syntax.

Warning:
These regular expressions are not binary-safe. The PCRE functions are.

There are also more PCRE functions than POSIX functions:
[man]ereg[/man], [man]eregi[/man], [man]split[/man], [man]spliti[/man], [man]ereg_replace[/man], [man]eregi_replace[/man] and [man]sql_regcase[/man] vs [man]preg_match[/man], [man]preg_match_all[/man], [man]preg_split[/man], [man]preg_replace[/man], [man]preg_quote[/man], [man]preg_replace_callback[/man] and [man]preg_grep[/man]. Further information is available in the manual.

[Volitics]

Weedpacket;

It's good to hear from you again. Thanks for the help!