PHP: How to split a string in substrings that match and don't match a regex pattern?

Question

I'm new here and need your help. I want to match an string that is an URI - and get an array of substrings.

This is my input string:

/part-of-{INTERESETINGSTUFF}/an-url/{MORESTUFF}

I want this output array:

array(4) {
     [0]=>
     string(9) "/part-of-"
     [1]=>
     string(19) "{INTERESETINGSTUFF}"
     [2]=>
     string(8) "/an-url/"
     [3]=>
     string(11) "{MORESTUFF}"
}

I'm already able to preg_match everything with curly brackets by the pattern \{[^}]+\}. But how can I achieve my desired result?

Best regards!

[the manual](http://php.net/manual/en/function.preg-split.php) should provide you with the tools necessary to achieve your goals. — Franz Gleichmann, Nov 12 '16 at 16:08

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 12 '16 at 16:20

What about this. See on regex101

\/.*?(?={|\/)\/?|{.*?}

Then store the matches in an array.

\/.*? matches all character following /
(?={|\/) stops match if next character is { or /
\/? match optional / at the end of match
{.*?} matches brackets and everything between

score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 10:32

0

You can use a very simple ({[^{}]*}) regex matching {, zero or more symbols other than { and } with preg_split and PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE option (that will put all the captured subvalues into the resulting array):

$str = '/part-of-{INTERESETINGSTUFF}/an-url/{MORESTUFF}';
$res = array_filter(preg_split('/({[^{}]*})/', $str, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE));
print_r($res);
// => Array( [0] => /part-of-  [1] => {INTERESETINGSTUFF}  [2] => /an-url/ [3] => {MORESTUFF} )

See PHP demo

The array_filter is used to remove all empty elements from the resulting array.

edited May 23 '17 at 10:32

Community

1
1

answered Nov 12 '16 at 16:55

Wiktor Stribiżew

607,720
39
448
563

Thank you very much! I didn't know the `PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE` option. – Jonny Nov 12 '16 at 16:58
The point is that there must be a capturing group around the pattern to make sure the matched chunks could also be put into the resulting array. – Wiktor Stribiżew Nov 12 '16 at 17:00

PHP: How to split a string in substrings that match and don't match a regex pattern?

2 Answers2