Extract text between square brackets and create array in PHP

Question

I need to extract text from a long string that has extra text within square brackets:

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"]28/04/2015 Text description[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"]29/04/2015 Text description 2[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"]

To extract the text and exclude the content inside the square brackets i apply this:

$page_content = preg_replace("/\[([^\[\]]++|(?R))*+\]/", "", $page->post_content);

Until here, it works. Now i can output my result and i see my string printed within tags:

<p>28/04/2015</p><h3><a>description</a></h3>
<p>29/04/2015</p><h3><a>description 2</a></h3>

But i need to create an array of the text i'm extracting, like this:

Array ( 
     [0] => [28/04/2015] 
     [1] => [description]
     [2] => [29/04/2015] 
     [3] => [description 2] 
)

Or also

Array ( 
     [0] => Array (
         [0] => [28/04/2015] 
         [1] => [description]
     )
     [1] => Array (
         [0] => [29/04/2015] 
         [1] => [description 2]
     )
)

How to do this?

Something like http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5696412/get-substring-between-two-strings-php may help you. — Tommy Jinks, Jun 10 '15 at 08:37
yes cause tags are printed by Wordpress, i'm thinking now that i had could to formulate better my question, sorry — Luca Mormile, Jun 10 '15 at 09:31

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 10 '15 at 08:41

0

Such regex help you

\](\d{1,2}\/\d{2}\/\d{4})\s([^\[]+)\[

MATCH 1
1.  [31-41] `28/04/2015`
2.  [42-58] `Text description`
MATCH 2
1.  [120-130]   `29/04/2015`
2.  [131-149]   `Text description 2`

There example

answered Jun 10 '15 at 08:41

splash58

25,715
3
20
32

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '15 at 08:50

0

Branch reset \K can help here:

preg_match_all('~\[(?:[^][]++|(?R))*+\]\K(\d{2}/\d{2}/\d{4})\h+([^[]+)~', $s, $m);
unset ($m[0]);
print_r($m);

Array
(
    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => 28/04/2015
            [1] => 29/04/2015
        )    
    [2] => Array
        (
            [0] => Text description
            [1] => Text description 2
        )    
)

RegEx Demo

answered Jun 10 '15 at 08:50

anubhava

713,503
59
514
593

Damn, my fault. My apoligies, i've see just now that my code print the text i need already within tags, like this:
28/04/2015
description
So the question changes sensibly, have i to modify my post? – Luca Mormile Jun 10 '15 at 08:57
Yes update your question with modified input and I will take a look. – anubhava Jun 10 '15 at 08:59

Extract text between square brackets and create array in PHP

` etc.

2 Answers2

description