[SOLVED] preg_match and googling code

[lard]

Hi folks.  My question is two fold, firstly I'm trying to use preg_match to strip some data between 2 bits of code.  What I have so far is:

 

$string="<p>This is the bit that i want</p><p>I don't want this</p>";
preg_match('/<p>(.+)<\/p>/',$string,$match);

$new=$match[1];

echo $new;

 

Which produces

This is the bit that i want</p><p>I don't want this

 

How do I make it search for the first instance of </p> rather than the last?  I presume that the key lies in the (.+) part, which leads me to my next question.  I don't really know what (.+) means (got it from someone else's thread) so it's a struggle to figure it out.  Trying to google it is really no help - there are no results, just like with many similar things.  Does anyone know of good comprehensive (!!) lists of such things or much better, how to search for info on them.  I'm sure google must have covered this somehow but I can't figure it.

 

Any help much appreciated!

[Alex]

You need to make your regular expression lazy by adding a ?, /<p>(.+?)<\/p>/

[lard]

I knew it'd be simple for someone clever!  Thanks chap

[MadTechie]

lard, can you please click "topic solved" to close this thread