Re: Regex - how to match until something

On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 02:55:54 +0200, Rik wrote:

> Read up on regexes.
>
> Learn what (.*?) means.
>
> $string1 = preg_replace ( '/Hello(.*?)( today)/', 'Hello ***\2' , $string1);
>
> Grtz,

Actually, there is no need to put (.*) within the parenthesis as you are
not using it later. You are just creating another variable needlessly. In
addition to that, $2 is preferred to \2. The "backslash" variables are
only needed in the original string, not in the replacement. Also, no need
to use non-hungry version of .* as there is only one terminator ("today")
in the string. Invocation like

$string1 = preg_replace ( '/Hello.*(today)/', 'Hello *** $1' ,$string1);

would be a bit faster and use less memory.

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