[SOLVED] Help with regex

[therealwesfoster]

When I run a preg_match, and there are multiple </b> (where i want the regex to stop), how can I make it stop at the NEXT occurrence? Sometimes it skips all the way to the last occurrence, or somewhere in between. IE:

 

 

Here's my sample code:

<h2>
<i>
<div>
  <b>
   <i id="2">My text!</i>
  </b>
</div>
</i>
</h2>

 

And my regex: (this is a quick throw-together.. non tested. just to help me ask my question)

 

<?php
$string = file_get_contents("THE_ABOVE_CODE");

$body = preg_match('/\<i id="2">(.*)\<\/i>/ism',$string,$match);

echo "<pre>".print_r($match)."</pre>";
?>

 

Now in the code, instead of selecting the </i> right after the text "My Text!", it selects the last </i> in the script... why?

 

Thanks

[Orio]

What you're looking for is the laziness operator "?".

Here's how your regular expression should look like: (Just added the laziness operator)

 

$body = preg_match('/\<i id="2">(.*?)\<\/i>/ism',$string,$match);

 

Orio.

[therealwesfoster]

Sweet, I'll give it a try. Does the ? just mean "be lazy and grab the first one you see"?

 

Wes

[Orio]

It works so the part in brackets will match the shortest part possible, instead of matching the longest part found (that's the default).

 

Orio.

[therealwesfoster]

Worked like a charm. Thanks