RE: [PHP] The difference between ereg and preg?

On 04 August 2006 10:52, Dave M G wrote: > Chris, Ligaya, Dave, > > Thank you for responding. I understand the difference in principle > between ereg and preg much better now. > > Chris wrote: > > ! in perl regular expressions means "not" so you need to escape it: > > \! AFAIR, that's only true in the (?! assertion sequence. > Still, when including that escape character, the following preg > expression does not find any matching text: > preg_replace("/<\!DOCTYPE(.*)<ul>/", "", $htmlPage); > > Whereas this ereg expression does find a match: > ereg_replace("<!DOCTYPE(.*)<ul>", "", $htmlPage); > > What do I need to do to make the preg expression succeed just as the > ereg expression does? By default, . in preg_* patterns does not match newlines. If you are matching in a multiline string, use the s modifier to change this: preg_replace("/<!DOCTYPE(.*)<ul>/s", "", $htmlPage); You also don't need the parentheses -- these will capture the entire matched expression for use in backreferences, but as you don't have any it's then immediately thrown away. So just use: preg_replace("/<!DOCTYPE.*<ul>/s", "", $htmlPage); Cheers! Mike --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Ford, Electronic Information Services Adviser, Learning Support Services, Learning & Information Services, JG125, James Graham Building, Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus, LEEDS, LS6 3QS, United Kingdom Email: m.ford@leedsmet.ac.uk Tel: +44 113 283 2600 extn 4730 Fax: +44 113 283 3211 To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to http://disclaimer.leedsmet.ac.uk/email.htm