Regex - Does not contain certain Characters preg_match - php

Question

I need a regex that match if the array contain certain it could anywhere for example, this array :
Array
(
[1] => Array
(
[0] => http://www.test1.com
[1] => 4
[2] => 4
)
[2] => Array
(
[0] => http://www.test2.fr/blabla.html
[1] => 2
[2] => 2
)
[3] => Array
(
[0] => http://www.stuff.com/admin/index.php
[1] => 2
[2] => 2
)
[4] => Array
(
[0] => http://www.test3.com/blabla/bla.html
[1] => 2
[2] => 2
)
[5] => Array
(
[0] => http://www.stuff.com/bla.html
[1] => 2
[2] => 2
)
I want to return all but the array that have the word stuff in it, and when i try to test with this it doesn't quite work :
return !preg_match('/(stuff)$/i', $element[0]);
any solution for that ?
Thanks

Answer 1

You don't need a regular expression for performing a simple search. Use array_filter() in conjunction with strpos():
$result = array_filter($array, function ($elem) {
return (strpos($elem[0], 'stuff') !== FALSE);
});
Now, to answer your question, your current regex pattern will only match strings that contain stuff at the end of the line. You don't want that, so get rid of the "end of the line" anchor $ from your regex.
The updated regex should look like below:
return !preg_match('/stuff/i', $element[0]);
If the actual use-case is different from what is shown in your question and if the operation involves more than just a simple pattern matching, then preg_match() is the right tool. As shown above, this can be used with array_filter() to create a new array that satisifes your requirements.
Here's how you'd do it with a callback function:
$result = array_filter($array, function ($elem) {
return preg_match('/stuff/i', $elem[0]);
});
Note: The actual regex might be more complex - I've used /stuff/ as an example. Also, note that I've removed the negation !... from the statement.

Answer 2

Your pattern will only match a string where stuff appears at the end of the string or line. To fix this, just get rid of the end anchor ($):
return !preg_match('/stuff/i', $element[0]);