Help with a preg_match

[james438]

like this?

    preg_match_all ('/(<a href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/i', $result, $matches);
    for ($i=0;$i<sizeof($matches[2]);$i++)
        {
         if (basename($matches[2][$i]) == basename($links_full_url))
            {
            echo "found on link $i<br>";
            break;
            }
        }

[nicmo]

no, preg_match already stores the URLs in the array without the variables

The array also seems to be broken when print_r() so i guess the "&" from the URLs is braking it?

[james438]

It is working for me. When using print_r() try using your browser to view the source. When you do you will see that the results are a little bit different. You will also notice that the match is found.

Here is the script I was working with:

<pre><?php
$links_full_url="http://www.site.com/OtherMethods.php?error=1&whatever=2";
$g=basename($links_full_url);
$result = '<strong></strong><font face="Verdana" size="2"><br> 
» </font><strong><a href="http://www.site.com/OtherMethods.php?error=1&whatever=2"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Other 
Methods</font></a></strong>';
    preg_match_all ('/(<a href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/i', $result, $matches);
    for ($i=0;$i<sizeof($matches[2]);$i++)
        {
         if (basename($matches[2][$i]) == basename($links_full_url))
            {
            echo "found on link $i<br>";
            break;
            }
        }
print_r($matches);
?></pre>

[nicmo]

thanks james its working, i had the wrong preg_match for god knows why...

I started testing and after 4 positive sit checks i got my first problem.

<a class="fadeThis " href="http://www.site.com/OtherMethods.php">

because if the class, it is not found. Also, some sites use:

<a
href="http://www.site.com/OtherMethods.php">

No space between a and href, just a line break. Also cannot be found ofcourse. I guess this can be done by adding some extras to the preg_match, could you help me once more? :P

[james438]

My goal is to try and keep the preg_match_all simple as it is with most scripting. We can get more complicated as needed. For now try replacing

    preg_match_all ('/(<a href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/i', $result, $matches); 

with

    preg_match_all ('/(href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/i', $result, $matches); 

[nicmo]

would you have any other suggestion to try and keep the "<a "? I really need to make sure its a proper link else people will cheat my system.

[james438]

how about

    preg_match_all ('/(<a.*?href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/i', $result, $matches); 

[nicmo]

that does work with classes and onclicks, etc. However sites that for some reason have their HTML displayed like this site: http://www.secnews.gr/ the preg_match cant find any links. Does .*? include "" or line breaks?

<a
href="http://www.site.com/OtherMethods.php">

[james438]

try this

    preg_match_all ('/(<a.*?href=\")(.*?)(\/\"|\")/is', $result, $matches); 

In the pcre that we have been working with thus far we have been using the i modifier, which makes the pcre case insensitive. The s modifier will tell the pcre to capture newlines with the dot metacharacter. For whatever reason, the newline is a whitespace character that the dot metacharacter will not capture by default.

sorry about earlier. when you were saying linebreaks earlier I thought you were talking about <br>

[nicmo]

Thats awsome James, you saved my bacon regex is a little too much info for me right now, hopefully i will grasp it soon.

So far, all the tests are working.