Getting part of a string

[MrSheen]

Okay guys!
Im wondering how to get a part of a string.

Basically im going to be viewing a part of a profile on a website

and there is this tag:

<span class="nametext"></span>

Now there will be a name in that how would i get what is inbertween?


for example
<span class="nametext">Josh</span>

How would i make it get just the josh?


Thanks.

[alexjewell]

$name = '<span class="nametext">Josh</span>';
$namePt2 = explode('class="nametext">',$name);
$namePt3 = explode('</span>',$namePt2[1]);
$name = $namePt3[0]; 

Would output Josh.
If you want any of it explained, just ask.

[MrSheen]

I understand this
The only problem is
$name.
I will NOT know what is inbertween the <spann.. and </span>

[alexjewell]

Ok, then what you would want to do is explode the content around the span and set $name to that line - that way whatever is between the span tags doesn't matter.

[MrSheen]

Ok, then what you would want to do is explode the content around the span and set $name to that line - that way whatever is between the span tags doesn't matter.

Could you create an example for me?

[alexjewell]

Ok, I'll need more information though.
How/where are you getting this line from? Is it in an html file? And what does the code around it look like?

[MrSheen]

Yes it has A LOT of html before it and after too.

Is there a way of like saying.. find <span.. then get the string until has found </span> ?

[alexjewell]

Alright, well you'd need to know the code immediately before the line. Then, you would do this:

// say we're getting the whole file, something.html that contains the line
$file = @file_get_contents('something.html');
$namePt1 = explode('<span class="nametext">',$file);
$namePt2 = explode('</span>',$namePt1[1]);
$name = $namePt2[0]; 

So when you echo $name, it displays whatever is between the span tags. There's only one instance of this in the whole file right?

[MrSheen]

Yes the spans have different ID'S!
Thanks very much i shall try this out now
THANKED.

[MrSheen]

ahh
it worked.
Thanks