CodingForums.com - Regex help.

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- - Regex help. (http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?t=195132)

I don't know if this is the right place to post this.

Ok I've got this code

PHP Code:


		
			
  <li><a name="symbols">(blah)</a></li>

  <li>123blah</li>

  <li>123</li>

  <li>123 blah</li>

  <li>blah 123</li>

  <li>blah123</li>

  <li><a name="a">A blah</a></li>

  <li>ablah</li>

  <li>a123blah</li>

  <li>ablah123</li>

and so on...

As you can see the "a name" is related the first character of the string.
I'm using a regex search and replace function and I need to be able to change this:

PHP Code:


		
			
  <li><a name="a">A blah</a></li>

  <li>ablah</li>

into this:

PHP Code:


		
			
  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=A+blah" name="a">A blah</a></li>

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=ablah">ablah</li>

and so on...

Can you guys figure out how to do this as regex is a very weak point for me.

what are you using to generate this code? is it php? if so, lets have a look!

At the moment it is static but it will be developed to php soon. At the moment I just need the regex statement thanks.

what i mean is how is the 'a' getting to be there?? is it dynamic, from a database, piece of code/script? do you own the site? If 'static' can't you just remove it? Why do you need regex?

Regards, Phil

I placed the "a" there. Problem is there is over 3000 lines. I can't manually append <a href="whatever"> to the start and </a> to the end. Remeber also that "whatever" has to equal the string inside the <li> tags.

If my request seems impossible I can remove all tags and just have whatever is inside the <li> tags so instead of:

PHP Code:


		
			
<li>whatever</li>

<li>whatever2</li>

<li>2whatever</li>

<li>2 whatever</li>

<li>whatever 2</li>

it will just be:

PHP Code:


		
			
whatever

whatever2

2whatever

2 whatever

whatever 2

Then I just need a regex to turn

PHP Code:


		
			
whatever

whatever2

2whatever

2 whatever

whatever 2

into

PHP Code:


		
			
"whatever",

"whatever2",

"2whatever",

"2 whatever",

"whatever 2"

PHP Code:


		
			
<?php

#$file = "./dir-to-file.php";
#$srt = file_get_contents($file);

$str = '<li><a name="symbols">(blah)</a></li> 
  <li>123blah</li> 
  <li>123</li> 
  <li>123 blah</li> 
  <li>blah 123</li> 
  <li>blah123</li> 
  <li><a name="a">A blah</a></li> 
  <li>ablah</li> 
  <li>a123blah</li> 
  <li>ablah123</li>  ';
  
 
 $str = preg_replace(
                     "#<li><a\s+name=\"(?:[^\"]+)\"\s?>([^<]+)</a></li>#is", 
                     "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=$1\">$1</a><li>", 
                     $str);
 $str = preg_replace(
                     "#<li>([^<]+)</li>#is", 
                     "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=$1\">$1</a><li>", 
                     $str);
 
 echo $str;

?>

Code:

<li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=(blah)">(blah)</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123blah">123blah</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123">123</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123 blah">123 blah</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=blah 123">blah 123</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=blah123">blah123</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=A blah">A blah</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=ablah">ablah</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=a123blah">a123blah</a><li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=ablah123">ablah123</a><li>

create a seperate file with the above code, load the code through and save the output

p.s. a man once told me ANYTHING is possible and NOTHING is impossible with programming, you just don't know how yet.

also a better way would be not to use preg_replace but preg_match_all, the use the data to urlencode the data before sticking in the url.

PHP Code:


		
			
<?php

#$file = "./dir-to-file.php";
#$srt = file_get_contents($file);

$str = '<li><a name="symbols">(blah)</a></li> 
  <li>123blah</li> 
  <li>123</li> 
  <li>123 blah</li> 
  <li>blah 123</li> 
  <li>blah123</li> 
  <li><a name="a">A blah</a></li> 
  <li>ablah</li> 
  <li>a123blah</li> 
  <li>ablah123</li>  ';
  
 
 $array = preg_match_all("#<li><a\s+name=\"(?:[^\"]+)\"\s?>([^<]+)</a></li>#is", $str, $matches);

 foreach( $matches[1] as $key => $inner_text ) {
     $url_insert = urlencode( $inner_text );
     $str = str_replace($matches[0][$key], "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=" . $url_insert . "\">" . $inner_text . "</a></li>", $str); 
 }
 
 $array = preg_match_all("#<li>([^<]+)</li>#is", $str, $matches); 
 
 foreach( $matches[1] as $key => $inner_text ) {
     $url_insert = urlencode( $inner_text );
     $str = str_replace($matches[0][$key], "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=" . $url_insert . "\">" . $inner_text . "</a></li>", $str); 
 }
 
 echo $str;
 
?>

Code:

<li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%28blah%29">(blah)</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123blah">123blah</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123">123</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=123+blah">123 blah</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=blah+123">blah 123</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=blah123">blah123</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=A+blah">A blah</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=ablah">ablah</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=a123blah">a123blah</a></li> 

  <li><a href="http://www.google.com.au/search?q=ablah123">ablah123</a></li>

Works when I place the list in the file but when I try to include it in a txt file it doesn't work.

are you trying:

PHP Code:


		
			
<?php

$file = "./dir-to-file.php";
$srt = file_get_contents($file);
 
 $array = preg_match_all("#<li><a\s+name=\"(?:[^\"]+)\"\s?>([^<]+)</a></li>#is", $str, $matches);

 foreach( $matches[1] as $key => $inner_text ) {
     $url_insert = urlencode( $inner_text );
     $str = str_replace($matches[0][$key], "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=" . $url_insert . "\">" . $inner_text . "</a></li>", $str); 
 }
 
 $array = preg_match_all("#<li>([^<]+)</li>#is", $str, $matches); 
 
 foreach( $matches[1] as $key => $inner_text ) {
     $url_insert = urlencode( $inner_text );
     $str = str_replace($matches[0][$key], "<li><a href=\"http://www.google.com.au/search?q=" . $url_insert . "\">" . $inner_text . "</a></li>", $str); 
 }
 
 echo $str;
 
?>

Yes and all I'm getting is a blank page.
Having it directly in the page works though.

Post your existing code, as is.