take some words from remote web page

joane1

hi, I'm not expert with php.

I want to take (and save in variable) only some words from a web page:

example:
from http://www.phpbuilder.com/ I'm would to take only "72449 members and counting!" (that is under logo)

can I do?

thanks!!

UKlee

Hi Joane I would take a look at a tutorial by a guy here who has helped me a number of times and i think this is what you are looking

http://phpbuilder.com/columns/patterson20050829.php3?aid=971

this could be adapted to grab any parts of information from a web page.

hope this helps

Kind regards

lee

joane1

thanks: i make this code but don't work

<?php
	$url = "http://www.phpbuilder.com/index.php";
	$handle = fopen($url, "r");
	$contents = file_get_contents($url);
	fclose($handle);

$temp_pattern = "/<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"/board/register.php\">Join Up!</a> <br>([0-9]*) members and counting!</p>/";

// preg_match(pattern, string, returned array)
preg_match($temp_pattern, $contents, $temps);

echo 'members '.$temps[1].'<br>';
?>

the output error is

Warning: Unknown modifier 'b' in path\to\mypage.php on line 10 (is preg_match line)

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in  path\to\mypage.php on line 12 (is echo line)

bradgrafelman

First of all, this:

	$handle = fopen($url, "r");
	$contents = file_get_contents($url);
	fclose($handle);

is redudandtly redudant. [man]file_get_contents/man does use a previously opened handle, so all you need is this:

	$contents = file_get_contents($url);

Second of all, you need to know more about Perl's regular expression syntax, as all of the preg_ functions use it, including [man]preg_match[/man]. The warning you're getting is due to the fact that you have unescaped delimiter (more than one, actually) in your pattern. For your pattern, it might be easier to simply use a different delimiter, such as the @ symbol, like so:

	$temp_pattern = "@<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"/board/register.php\">Join Up!</a> <br>([0-9]*) members and counting!</p>@";

Don't forget, if the structure of that part of the page changes any, even a tiny bit, it'll most likely break your pattern and cause errors again.

joane1

now, I use this code

<?php
  $url = "http://www.phpbuilder.com/index.php";
  $contents = file_get_contents($url); 
  $temp_pattern = "@<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"/board/register.php\">Join Up!</a> <br>([0-9]*) members and counting!</p>@"; 

preg_match($temp_pattern, $contents, $temps);

echo 'members '.$temps[1].'<br>';

?>

an I get this error:

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in path\to\page.php on line 46
members

46 is the echo line

joane1

bradgrafelman

In the source for PHPBuilder's index, the br HTML entity is capitalized. You don't have the case-insensitive flag set, so your pattern didn't match the HTML and therefore didn't return any matched substrings from your pattern.

Add the 'i' modifier after your last delimiter to make the pattern case-insensitive.

EDIT: Quoting the General guidelines:

Please do not "bump" your posts

joane1

i have edit it like this:

$temp_pattern = "@<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"/board/register.php\">Join Up!</a> <br>([0-9]*) members and counting!</p>@[B]i[/B]";

but doesn't work: what's wrong?

bradgrafelman

Look at the HTML of the page.

	<p align="center">Join Up!</a> <BR>72604 members and counting!</p>

joane1

nothing, nor with ... but in the html I see the tag lowercase:  

however, where is the error?

<?php
$url = "http://www.phpbuilder.com/index.php";
$contents = file_get_contents($url);
$temp_pattern = "@<a href=\"/board/register.php\">Join Up!</a> ([0-9]*) members and counting!@i";

preg_match($temp_pattern, $contents, $temps);

echo 'members '.$temps[1].'<br>';

I get the same error message:

Notice: Undefined offset: 1 in path\to\page.php on line 46
members

bradgrafelman

There is no HREF tag in the HTML...