variable in preg_match, how to apply ^ and $

[sKunKbad]

I've got a preg match that works:

 

if(preg_match("|$searchText|i",$contents)){

 

but if I add ^ and $ like this:

 

if(preg_match("|^$searchText$|i",$contents)){

 

it stops working.

[uniflare]

^ might not work unless your running apache. use \A instead. Also use literal strings in patterns (it helps):

 

eg:

if(preg_match('|\A'.$searchText.'$|i',$contents)){

 

Also this expression is useless as it is the same as using:

if($searchText == $contents){

----------

 

what are you trying to do with this expression?

[sKunKbad]

I'm just trying to make a non-database search for files/pages on my website. I'm not really sure if this is the way to do it, but this is the direction I'm currently headed. Feel free to make suggestions.

 

<?php
//a search term for testing purposes - later to be imported via POST and validated/filtered

$searchText = "avneri";


//the following code makes an array of file names to search from the menuList.inc.php
require "menuList.inc.php";
preg_match_all("|href=\".*\"|",$menu, $matches);
$pageList = array("index.php");
for ($i=1;$i<count($matches[0]);$i++){
	$match = preg_split("|\"|",$matches[0]["$i"]);
	$pageList[] = $match[1];
}

//This is the list of files that will be searched
echo "<pre>";
print_r($pageList);
echo "</pre>";

//search each file from the $pageList array, and determine if the $searchText is present
foreach($pageList as $page){
	$handle = fopen("$page", "r");
	$contents = fread($handle, filesize($page));
	if(preg_match("|\\b$searchText\\b|i",$contents)){
		$found[] = $page;
	}
}

//this is the array of files in which the search term was found.
echo "<pre>";
print_r($found);
echo "</pre>";
?>

 

menuList.inc.php:

<?php
$menu=<<<MENU
<ul>
<li class="sect first">Site Menu</li>
<li class="item"><a title="Brian's Web Design - Home Page" href="http://www.brianswebdesign.com/">Home</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Brian's recent website portfolio" href="portfolio.php">Portfolio</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Information about Brian" href="about.php">About</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Frequently Asked Questions" href="faq.php">FAQs</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Contact Brian" href="contact.php">Contact</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Get an Estimate" href="estimates.php">Get an Estimate</a></li>
<li class="item"><a title="Accessibility Statement" href="accessibility.php">Accessibility</a></li>
</ul>
MENU;
?>