How do I search for a string in a file?

[padanaram]

What is the PHP function for searching for strings in a file? Can I do it on a remote web site?

I need to search for some strings on a remote web page such as VIN: or MAKE:.

If I am searching for VIN: then I need to retrieve the VIN # which is a string that follows the string VIN:.

What is a good frunction to use if I want to read a web page and extract distinct information from it. I don't want to get everything from the page. I only want certain information. Then I need to store that information in a local database.

I can already get all the text from the page. But I need to search that text and get only certain things.

What is the fastest way to do this? I have to get a lot of information and go to a lot of URL's on the remote site.

[laserlight]

Generally you would use something like [man]strpos/man or [man]strstr/man, or [man]preg_match/man or if you regex functionality.