find [ % ]

[chrislive]

if I wanted to find any items in an array starting with [ and ending with ] how would I go about it? I amm building an email queue processor and I want to be able to place email address or distribution list names. eg if I had a list.. [e-mail], [e-mail], [maillist_1]

$email_to = "[e-mail], [e-mail], [maillist_1]";
$email_to = explode(",", $email_to);
foreach($email_to as $to_emails)
    {
        // First Check if its a distribution list
        if($dist == "yes")
           {
             // get the list and split them.
             $emails_to[] = $to_emails;
            }
        else
             {
                  $emails_to[] = $to_emails;
              }
     }

[jheitz]

There could be easier ways, but here is an option:

After the explode, examine each $email_to string. Check the first character with a SUBSTR to check if it is a [, do the same for the last character (using SUBSTR combined with STRLEN)

[laserlight]

If you dont want to use regular expressions, jheitz's idea is the way to go. Still, use strpos() instead of substr().

[chrislive]

i would like to use preg_match i guess but I dont know how to use that at all.. reading up now..

[chrislive]

I have done it like this for now, although I think preg_match would be more efficient..

// Lets check if its a distribution group.
$f1 = substr($emails,0,1);
$l1 = $emails{strlen($emails)-1};

// Check if its a Distribution List
if(($f1 == "[")AND($l1 == "]"))

[laserlight]

With preg_match() on each array element your pattern would be something like:

/^\[(.*?)\]$/

[jheitz]

Yep, this looks like a clear case of efficiency vs code legibility... The method you are using is not particularly inefficient to be honest