Re: RegEx and ?

Hi Berber, you generally need to do some string replacements on the text you're using to put through the match before you actually do the match (and same for replacements). Just have a look at the pattern syntax in the manual for the characters you need to do the replacement on... e.g $string = "Will this work?"; $criteria = "work?"; $criteria = str_replace("?", "\?", $criteria); if (preg_match("/" . $criteria . /is", $string)) { echo "Bingo."; } I usually make a function that will replace all the special characters. The only one that stands out against the rest is the $, because escaped once in a pcre function means that it is a variable - you need to escape it twice. Here's some of what I tend to use (cut out a function - the rest of the function won't mean much to you ;)): // Clear up the special characters in the $criteria. $criteria = str_replace("^", "\^", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("[", "\[", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("]", "\]", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("*", "\*", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("+", "\+", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("{", "\}", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("}", "\}", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("?", "\?", $criteria); $criteria = str_replace("|", "\|", $criteria); // The $ is a little tricky, since it is used for end of string / line, // and for use with variables when escaped. It therefore needs two // backslashes. $criteria = str_replace("$", "\\$", $criteria); // We're using ! as a delimiter, so that must be replaced, too. $criteria = str_replace("!", "\!", $criteria); There's probably bits missing from that, since that's from a script in development, but you get the idea. Hope it's of some help, James "Boaz Yahav" <berber@netvision.net.il> wrote in message news:BB2EF6AF14F0D24FB89955B4906717620A7651@ntx.forest.netvision.net.il... When i try to use preg_match on strings that have "?" inside them it seems to not work. Any ideas how to bypass this? thanks berber