Re: pasring complex string question

Webmaster wrote:

Hello, i have a string looking like this. ## /T (KEY1)/V (VALUE1)|| ## /T (KEY2)/V (VALUE2)|| ## /V (VALUE3)/T (KEY3)|| I know want to separete it in to keys and values and insert them into an array. Note that /T always shows that teh upcoming value in() is a Key and that /V always is a Value. And that the set can be flipped. Thank you very much for helping. Mirco Blitz

It seems you complex yourself too much.. ;) Try using regexp with the 'e' modifier: <?php $data="## /T (KEY1)/V (VALUE1)|| ## /T (KEY2)/V (VALUE2)|| ## /V (VALUE3)/T (KEY3)||"; $data_array=array(); preg_replace( array( "/\#\#\s*/T\s*\(([^\)]*)\)\s*\V\s*\(([^\)]*)\)\s*\|\|/e", "/\#\#\s*/V\s*\(([^\)]*)\)\s*\T\s*\(([^\)]*)\)\s*\|\|/e" ), array( "\$data_array['\\1']='\\2';", "\$data_array['\\2']='\\1';" ), $data ); print_r($data_array); //see if you get it as expected ?> I believe there's an easier way to store your data as strings (like serialize), so why not using them?! see alse: http://www.php.net/serialize