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Introduction to Preg in PHP

By , About.com Guide

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Preg_Split PHP Function
The function Preg_Spilit is used to take a string, and put it into an array. The string is broken up into different values in the array based upon your input. It is phrased as preg_split ( split_pattern, your_data, optional_limit, optional_flags )
 <?php 
 $str = 'I like goats. You like cats. He likes dogs.'; 
 $chars = preg_split('//', $str); 
 print_r($chars); 
 echo "<p>"; 
 $words= preg_split('/ /', $str); 
 print_r($words); 
 echo "<p>"; 
 $sentances= preg_split('/\./', $str, -1 , PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY); 
 print_r($sentances); 
 ?> 
In the code above we preform three splits. In our first, we split the data by each character. In the second, we split it with a blank space, thus giving each word (and not each letter) an array entry. And in our third example we use a '.' period to split the data, therefor giving each sentence it's own array entry.

Because in our last example we use a '.' period to split, a new entry is started after our final period, so we add the flag PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY so that no empty results are returned. Other available flags are PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE which also captures the character you are splitting by (our "." for example) and PREG_SPLIT_OFFSET_CAPTURE which captures the offset in characters where the split has occurred.

Remember that the split_pattern needs to be a regular expression, and that a limit of -1 (or no limit) is the default if none is specified.

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