Finding a Number

[Helminthophobe]

I'm extremely new to regex so I apologize if I use incorrect terminology or don't explain myself very well.

 

I'm building a little script that takes preformatted text from another site and reformats it for my own use. It looks for numbers within that text. Here are a couple of examples that may show up.

Metal:	395.813 	Crystal:	44.398

Metal:	395 	Crystal:	44.398

Metal:	2.395.813 	Crystal:	44.398

 

This is the code I am using now.

$match = array();
if(preg_match("/Metal:\s+(.+)\s/",$text,$match))
{
$metal = $match[1];
}
echo "<b>Metal ". $metal . "</b>";

 

It outputs the following:

Metal 395.813 Crystal: 189.516

 

How would I get it to just output the number and not the information after the number too? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[dsaba]

/Metal:\s+(.+)\s/

 

you problem is with the .+ part consuming too much, . means any character including spaces, you have to control just what you consume

observe: http://nancywalshee03.freehostia.com/regextester/regex_tester.php?seeSaved=3agz3yjn

 

also preg_match_all() will extract all matches from the haystack, not just the first one, this wasn't your problem though, however you may find it beneficial to use preg_match_all() in many scenarios

 

try this: (~ is a delimiter just like /)

~Metal:\s+([^\s]+)\s~ //$out[0][0] is the first match's subgroup

 

get more specific with identifying number patterns:

~Metal:\s+([\.\d]+)~

See: http://nancywalshee03.freehostia.com/regextester/regex_tester.php?seeSaved=33wp0ony

 

 

<?php
$hay = 'Metal:	395.813 	Crystal:	44.398';
$pat = '~Metal:\s+([\.\d]+)~';
preg_match_all($pat, $hay, $out);
echo $out[0][0];
?>

[Helminthophobe]

So [\.\d]+ looks for single numbers and the "." while the + tells it to repeat that until there are no more numbers or ".", correct?

 

I appreciate the speedy answer. Your code worked perfect and that link you used is going to be a huge help too. I really appreciate it!

[dsaba]

Yes you are correct, if you press FAQ on the website it will take you too a regex reference, or go to "Resources" here on phpfreaks->regex help , or google

\d is shorthand for numbers

 

* means to repeat 0 or more times

+ means 1 or more time

 

-no problem

return the favor by doing the same