Preg_Match_All PHP Function

Preg_Match_All is used to search a string for specific patterns and stores the results in an array. Unlike preg_match which stops searching after it finds a match, preg_match_allsearches the entire string and records all matches. It is phrased as: preg_match_all (pattern, string, $array, optional_ordering, optional_offset)

<?php

 $data = "The party will start at 10:30 pm and run untill 12:30 am";

preg_match_all('/(\d+:\d+)\s*(am|pm)/', $data, $match,PREG_PATTERN_ORDER); echo "Full: <br>";

 print_r($match[0]); 

echo "<p>Raw: <br>";

 print_r($match[1]); 

echo "<p>Tags: <br>";

 print_r($match[2]); 

?>

In our first example we use PREG_PATTERN_ORDER. We are searching for 2 things; one is the time, the other is it's am/pm tag. Our results are outputted to $match, as an array where $match[0] contains all matches, $match[1] contains all data matching our first sub-serach (the time) and $match[2] contains all data matching our second sub-search (am/pm).

<?php

 $data = "The party will start at 10:30 pm and run untill 12:30 am";

preg_match_all('/(\d+:\d+)\s*(am|pm)/', $data, $match, PREG_SET_ORDER); echo "First: <br>"; 

echo $match[0][0] . " , " . $match[0][1] . " , ". $match [0][2] ."<br>"; echo "Second: <br>"; 

echo $match[1][0] . " , " . $match[1][1] . " , ". $match [1][2] ."<br>"; 

?>

In our second example we use PREG_SET_ORDER. This puts each full result into an array. The first result is $match[0], with $match[0][0] being the full match, $match[0][1] being the first sub-match and $match[0][2] being the second sub-match.