PHP - Preg_match_all optional match - php

Question

I'm having problems matching the[*] which is sometimes there and sometimes not. Anyone have suggestions?
$name = 'hello $this->row[today1][] dfh fgh df $this->row[test1] ,how good $this->row[test2][] is $this->row[today2][*] is monday';
echo $name."\n";
preg_match_all( '/\$this->row[.*?][*]/', $name, $match );
var_dump( $match );
output:
hello $this->row[test] ,how good $this->row[test2] is $this->row[today][*] is monday
array (
0 =>
array (
0 => '$this->row[today1][*]',
1 => '$this->row[test1] ,how good $this->row[test2][*]',
2 => '$this->row[today2][*]',
),
)
Now the [0][1] match takes on too much because it is matching until the next '[]' instead of ending at '$this->row[test]' . I'm guessing the [*]/ adds a wildcard. Somehow need to check if the next character is [ before matching to []. Anyone?
Thanks

Answer 1

[, ] and * are special meta characters in regex and you need to escape them. Also you need to make last [] optional as per your question.
Following these suggestions following should work:
$name = 'hello $this->row[today1][] dfh fgh df $this->row[test1] ,how good $this->row[test2][] is $this->row[today2][*] is monday';
echo $name."\n";
preg_match_all( '/\$this->row\[.*?\](?:\[.*?\])?/', $name, $match );
var_dump( $match );
OUTPUT:
array(1) {
[0]=>
array(4) {
[0]=>
string(20) "$this->row[today1][]"
[1]=>
string(17) "$this->row[test1]"
[2]=>
string(19) "$this->row[test2][]"
[3]=>
string(21) "$this->row[today2][*]"
}
}