How do I extract a part of a string?

[jacksont123]

Say I have the string:

blasblahblooblezIneedtoextractthisboozblosblooblaheedsdfds

How do I extract whatever is in between "blez" and "booz"?

[BLiZZaRD]

That's a double question... double edged at that.

Unless I am completely not understanding you, what is creating the string, where is it located, are you wanting to pull it out to display it on a page? Is it going to be saved off by itself? What do you want to pull it out with? Will it always be text, always the same length, etc etc.

A little more on what you want to accomplish will help answer those questions

[jacksont123]

I found this script somewhere that does the same function but its in javascript.

		<script type="text/javascript">
		<!-- // 
		function CodeFix()
		{
			var strEmbedCode=new String (document.getElementById("txtEmbedCode").value);
			var strStartMatch=new String("blez");
			var strEndMatch=new String("blez");
			
			var intStart=0;
			var intEnd=0;
			
			intStart=strEmbedCode.indexOf(strStartMatch, 0) + strStartMatch.length;
			intEnd=strEmbedCode.indexOf(strEndMatch, intStart);
			
			if ((intStart != -1) && (intEnd !=-1))
			
			{
				strEmbedCode=strEmbedCode.substring(intStart, intEnd);
				strEmbedCode=unescape(strEmbedCode);
				/*document.location.href=strEmbedCode;*/
				window.location=strEmbedCode;
				document.getElementById("downloadlink").innerHTML=strEmbedCode;
				return true;
			}
			
			else
			{
				alert("Input format incorrect!");
			}
		}
		// -->
		</script>

[jacksont123]

That's a double question... double edged at that.

Unless I am completely not understanding you, what is creating the string, where is it located, are you wanting to pull it out to display it on a page? Is it going to be saved off by itself? What do you want to pull it out with? Will it always be text, always the same length, etc etc.

A little more on what you want to accomplish will help answer those questions

The string will be displayed on the page, and the original may not be the same.
I just need to extract what ever is in between "blez" and "booz" and display it on the page.

[mburt]

var query = "blez"
var string = "blasblahblooblezIneedtoextractthisboozblosblooblaheedsdfds"
alert(string.substring(string.indexOf(query),string.indexOf(query)+query.length))

do the same for booz or whatever

[jacksont123]

Is that for php or javascript?
and will that extract and display whatever is in booz and blez?

(sorry, i would have made better words but i couldn't think of anything at the time)

[djr33]

EDIT: Apparently the original post was edited, changing the question. The answer relating to the new question is on the next page.
However, this applies well (and fills in some details missing in the next post) if you want to find "blez" AND "blez", or two of the same markers, not different markers.



Several methods...

1.

list($extra,$YOURVAR,$extra2) = explode('blez',$string,3); 

$YOURVAR now holds that value.

2.

$YOURVAR = substr($string,strpos($string,'blez')+strlen('blez'),(strpos($string,'blez',strpos($string,'blez')+strlen($marker))-(strpos($string,'blez')+strlen('blez')))); 

Again, $YOURVAR now holds the value.


I think the substr method would theoretically best less server load or some such, but, hey, I think explode is a little bit friendlier



More info:
1.
list() acts like an array, but with specific variables. You could just use $myvar = explode(...) instead, and $myvar[1] (since arrays start at zero, 1 is the second value) would be what you want.
explode() splits a string into chunks (in an array) at a marker. The third parameter is limiting the number of outputs to three, so the next blez, if it were to occur would not split again, causing confusion.

2. substr(STRING, INT START, INT LENGTH) (aka sub-string)
So... you set which string to use, what point to start and how long it should be. This can all be determined using strpos() (aka string-position, within a string):
strpos(STRING, INT START, INT OFFSET)
So... which string, where to start, then, if added, how far into the string to start looking. We use this here because you need two instances of the same string, so you need to be sure not to just find the first occurance twice.
Note: strlen($var) just returns to length of $var, helping with the offset and such.



For a better understanding of method two, here are two ways to look at it:
First, make it generic. Let's use a variable instead of your randomly chosen marker:
$marker = 'blez';
substr($string,strpos($string,$marker)+strlen($marker),(strpos($string,$marker,strpos($string,$marker)+strlen($marker))-(strpos($string,$marker)+strlen($marker))));

Now, to further explain, we can seperate that into lots of parts:

$marker = 'blez';
//Here's what we're starting with--
substr($string,strpos($string,$marker)+strlen($marker),(strpos($string,$marker,strpos($string,$marker)+1)-(strpos($string,$marker)+strlen($marker))));
//To begin...
$len = strlen($marker); //$len is now length of marker
$pos1 = strpos($string,$marker); // find pos1 (first position) of marker in string
//already, it looks a lot simpler:
substr($string,$pos1+$len,(strpos($string,$marker,$pos1+$len)-($pos1+$len)));
//Now, to continue:
substr($string,$pos1+$len,(strpos($string,$marker,$pos1+$len)-($pos1+$len)));
//We don't want to include the marker, so let's add it's length to the starting point--
$start = $len + $pos1;
//Now, even more simple:
substr($string,$start,(strpos($string,$marker,$start)-$start));
//Let's find the second occurance of $marker:
$pos2 = strpos($string,$marker,$start);
//find position of $m in $s AFTER starting point, $start
//So...
substr($string,$start,($pos2-$start));
//Let's simplify the end...
//Since we want what is BETWEEN $start and $pos2, let's just subtract:
$length = ($pos2-$start);
//Now, looks a lot nicer:
substr($string,$start,$length);

//So, here's all of that without the 'work':
$len = strlen($marker);
$pos1 = strpos($string,$marker);
$start = $len + $pos1;
$pos2 = strpos($string,$marker,$start);
$length = ($pos2-$start);
$MYVAR = substr($string,$start,$length); 

EDIT: Note that in the time it took me to write all of the comments and such, I now find 5 posts have been added... I *was* going to be the first reply

[mburt]

Sorry, my internet disconnected me! I couldn't finish my post.
And I forgot this was in the php section.. whoa I'm sleep deprived...
This is a javascript way to do it:

<script type="text/javascript">
function getstr(query1,query2,string) {
document.write(string.substring(string.indexOf(query1)+query1.length,string.indexOf(query2)));
}
var string1 = "blasblahblooblezIneedtoextractthisboozblosblooblaheedsdfds"
var myquery1 = "blez"
var myquery2 = "booz"
getstr(myquery1,myquery2,string1)
</script>

[mburt]

indexOf, and strpos are almost identical between JavaScript and PHP. Either way works.

[mburt]

thetestingsite: I changed it to document.write, I got cut off and couldn't edit my post.