Preg_Match PHP Function

The Preg_Match PHP function is used to search a string, and return a 1 or 0. If the search was successful a 1 will be returned, and if it was not found a 0 will be returned. Although other variables can be added, it is most simply phrased as: preg_match(search_pattern, your_string). The search_pattern needs to be a regular expression.

<?php

 $data = "I had a box of cerial for breakfast today, and then I drank some juice."; 

if (preg_match("/juice/", $data)) {

echo "You had juice.<br>"; 

} else { 

echo "You had did not have juice.<br>"; 

} 

if (preg_match("/eggs/", $data)) { 

echo "You had eggs.<br>"; 

} else { 

echo "You had did not have eggs.<br>";

 } 

?>

The code above uses preg_match to check for a key word (first juice then egg) and replies based on whether it is true (1) or false (0). Because it returns these two values it is most often used in a conditional statement .