Regex for Advanced search feature

I'm trying to create an advanced search feature for my site, and I have it mostly working the way I want. I take whatever search term ($searchkey) that the user submits, explodes if off any spaces between words, and then use that to search for each word separately. $keys = explode(" ",$searchkey); So the search phrase of: Dog Cat Horse would output : Array (

    [0] => Dog
    [1] => Cat
    [2] => Horse

) However, I would like to add the ability to have phrases in there indicated by " marks. So, if the search phrase was this: "Dog Cat" Horse It would output: Array (

    [0] => Dog Cat
    [1] => Horse

) My concept to solve this is right before I explode the keys as above, to replace any spaces within " marks with a garbage string of characters (say XXXXXXXXXX) using a regular expression, and then later replace it back with a space. However, I suck at regular expressions and can't figure it out. Anyone have a way for me to accomplish this with a regular expression or with another method? -- Kevin Murphy Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services Western Nevada College www.wnc.edu 775-445-3326 P.S. Please note that my e-mail and website address have changed from wncc.edu to wnc.edu.