Regular expression not returning propper matches - php

Question

I am currently experiencing some problems with my regular expression on my PHP server.
This is my current regulair expression:
/\{content="(?:([^"\|]*)\|?)+"\}/
And I want it to match:
{content="default|test|content|text"}
And then return this in the matches:
default
test
content
text
But when I currently execute it I get back this in my matches:
array (
0 => '{content="default|test|content|text"}',
1 => '',
)
Do any of you have a problem what I am doing wrong?
With kind regards,
Youri Arktesteijn

Answer 1

You can use positive lookaheads and positive lookbehinds.
Three phases:
We match the beginning quote, but don't catch it in our output. Then we match anything that's not a pipe. Then we match a pipe without catching it.
Non-pipes between pipes
Non-pipes and non-quotes between a pipe and a quote.
Here's the code.
<?php
$string = '{content="default|test|content|text"}';
$my_matches = preg_match_all('!((?<=")([^|]+)(?=[|])|(?<=[|])([^|]+)(?=[|])|(?<=[|])([^|"]+)(?="))!',$string,$matches);
print_r($matches[0]);
?>
Output
Array
(
[0] => default
[1] => test
[2] => content
[3] => text
)
Once you have the logic working, then you can pair the look ahead and look behind characters to shorten the match string.
$my_matches = preg_match_all('!(?<=["|])([^|"]+)(?=[|"])!',$string,$matches);
Output
Array
(
[0] => default
[1] => test
[2] => content
[3] => text
)

Answer 2

I don't know how it is possible by using a single line of regular expression. Anyway try the following code,
<?php
if (preg_match('/\{content="(?:([^\"]+))"\}/', $sContent, $matches) > 0) {
$result = explode('|', $matches[1]);
} else {
$result = array();
}
echo '<pre>' . print_r($result, true) . '</pre>';
?>