preg_match
To prevent any problems, try to always use a delimiter that will *almost* not be used inside the regex, such as ` (back quote)
for example: instead of
<?php preg_match('/foo\/bar\//',$somevar); ?>
use
<?php preg_match('`foo/bar/`',$somevar); ?>
it's that simple! like this, you won't have to bother with delimiters anymore...
preg_quote
(PHP 4, PHP 5)
preg_quote — Quote regular expression characters
Description
string preg_quote
( string $str
[, string $delimiter
] )
preg_quote() takes str and puts a backslash in front of every character that is part of the regular expression syntax. This is useful if you have a run-time string that you need to match in some text and the string may contain special regex characters.
The special regular expression characters are: . \ + * ? [ ^ ] $ ( ) { } = ! < > | :
Parameters
- str
-
The input string.
- delimiter
-
If the optional delimiter is specified, it will also be escaped. This is useful for escaping the delimiter that is required by the PCRE functions. The / is the most commonly used delimiter.
Return Values
Returns the quoted string.
Examples
Example #1 preg_quote() example
<?php
$keywords = '$40 for a g3/400';
$keywords = preg_quote($keywords, '/');
echo $keywords; // returns \$40 for a g3\/400
?>
Example #2 Italicizing a word within some text
<?php
// In this example, preg_quote($word) is used to keep the
// asterisks from having special meaning to the regular
// expression.
$textbody = "This book is *very* difficult to find.";
$word = "*very*";
$textbody = preg_replace ("/" . preg_quote($word) . "/",
"<i>" . $word . "</i>",
$textbody);
?>
Notes
Note: This function is binary-safe.
add a note
User Contributed Notespreg_quote
bizzigul at hotmail dot fr
30-Jul-2008 01:10
30-Jul-2008 01:10
Anonymous
26-Dec-2007 08:13
26-Dec-2007 08:13
Wondering why your preg_replace fails, even if you have used preg_quote?
Try adding the delimiter / - preg_quote($string, '/');