[SOLVED] Preg_split - Filtering the "." from strings

[transparencia]

How can I filter the "." (period) when splitting strings using preg_split?

 

Greetings! 

 

 

[wildteen88]

With preg_split you'll have to escape it, eg: \.

 

The period (.) in regex has a special meaning, escaping it tells the PCRE engine to treat it as literal.

[transparencia]

How can I do that?

 

Does it need another function? The string splitting is for a search engine, perfomance is a must.

 

PS: Thanks for your anwser.

[wildteen88]

Umm, I just said. You escape it like so: \.

[transparencia]

It's not working because I didn't explain myself right, I'm sorry.

 

I want to split strings and use multiple delimiters, not just the . (period) I want to filter:

. - _ ,? ! and white space (" ").

 

I was using

$terms = preg_split("/[\s,]+/", $kernel->vars['string']);

 

But it didn't filter the "." and I don't understand the delimiters character meaning.

 

What are the right delimiters for filtering the above characters?

[Mark Baker]

Unless you have a very special reason why you must use preg_split(), why not use str_word_count() instead

[DamienRoche]

From what I know, and I could be wrong, the regex for those characters would be:

 

"/[\s][\.][\-][\_][\,][\?][\!]/"

 

There may be an easier way to do this and like I said, it could be wrong. Only one way to find out.....

 

Hope that helps.

[wildteen88]

You should be able to group those into one character set:

 

"/[\s\.-_,?!]/"

[nrg_alpha]

You should be able to group those into one character set:

 

"/[\s\.-_,?!]/"

 

Be carefule with the location of the - character in your character class... if it is not the first or last character, this character now signifies a range (instead of a dash). Best to relocate that character..also, you do not need to escape the dot in this case, as it is automatically recognized as a dot (and not a wildcard) character when placed within a character class:

 

"/[\s.,_?!-]/"

 

EDIT - To the OP.. \s is a shorthand character class that encompasses numerous spaces, from individual ones to tabs and returncarriages by example..if you ONLY want an actual space, you can replace \s with a single literal space, or use \x20

[transparencia]

Thank you all. Works great with "/[\s.,_?!-]/".

 

Solved!