Easily Use Regular Expressions in Your PHP Scripts

PHP ereg and preg Regex Functions

PHP has two sets of regular expression functions: the ereg and preg functions. The preg functions support a modern full-featured regex syntax. They do require the PCRE library to be installed on your server. The ereg functions to not rely on any libraries. They implement the POSIX ERE flavor, with lacks modern regex functionality. RegexBuddy makes it very easy to use the ereg and preg regex matching functions in your PHP scripts.

See How Easy Coding with Regexes Can Be

First, use RegexBuddy to define a regex or retrieve a regexp saved in a RegexBuddy library. Rely on RegexBuddy's clear regex analysis, which is constantly updated as you build the pattern, rather than dealing with the cryptic regex syntax on your own. Detailed help on that syntax is always only a click away.

If you copied a regex written for another programming language, simply paste it into RegexBuddy, and select the original regex flavor. RegexBuddy will then automatically convert it to the PCRE or POSIX ERE regex flavor when you generate a PHP source code snippet, depending on whether you selected the preg or ereg function set.

If you created a new regular expression, test and debug it in RegexBuddy before using it in your PHP source code. Test each regex in RegexBuddy's safe sandbox without risking precious data. Quickly apply the regex to a wide variety of input and sample data, without having to produce that input through your script.

Finally, let RegexBuddy generate a source code snippet that you can copy and paste directly into whichever IDE or PHP code editor you use. Just choose what you want to use the regex for, and a fully functional code snippet is ready. You can change the names of variables and parameters to suit your naming style or the current situation, which RegexBuddy automatically remembers.

Don't bother trying to remember which methods to call or which parameters to pass. And don't worry about properly escaping backslashes and quotes. Just tell RegexBuddy what you want to do, and you will get the proper PHP code straight away. Anything can be done: testing a string for a match, extracting search matches, validating input, search-and-replace, splitting a string, etc.

Let RegexBuddy Make Regex Easy for You

• Discover how you can automate tedious tasks with regular expressions.
• Find out how RegexBuddy makes the regex syntax crystal clear enabling you to use regular expressions with the greatest ease ever.
• Watch self-running demonstrations in your web browser and see what RegexBuddy can do for you.
• Take a look at the screen shots.
• Buy RegexBuddy now and try it risk-free with our 3-month unconditional money-back guarantee.

Page URL: http://www.regexbuddy.com/php.html
Page last updated: 08 June 2007
Site last updated: 27 January 2010

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