String Manipulation Help

Ik · 10-23-2009, 12:33 PM

Please see the code below.
????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/programming/618564-string-manipulation-help.html

Code:

<ul>
	<li>
		Services
		<ul>
			<li>
				Web Design & Development
				<ul>
					<li>CMS</li>
					<li>e-Commerce</li>
				</ul>
			</li>
			<li>SEO</li>
			<li>Hosting</li>
		</ul>
		<li>About</li>
		<li>Contact</li>
	</li>
</ul>

I have it in a string variable, and I want to be able to get the 3rd level UL from it. So here is what I want to get:

Code:

<ul>
<li>CMS</li>
<li>e-Commerce</li>
</ul>

Your help is appreciated. I'm using PHP 5

sdsinc · 10-23-2009, 01:10 PM

I would have a look at the PHP DOM parser to traverse the HTML structure, other XML libraries should do the job as well.

qbert220 · 10-24-2009, 01:08 PM

Or you could use preg_match like this (untested):

Code:

if (preg_match('#^.*?<ul>.*?<ul>.*?(<ul>.*?</ul>)#i', $matches))
{
    echo $matches[1];
}

Ik · 10-25-2009, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by qbert220

Or you could use preg_match like this (untested):

Code:

if (preg_match('#^.*?<ul>.*?<ul>.*?(<ul>.*?</ul>)#i', $matches))
{
    echo $matches[1];
}

It seems to me that preg_match is the solution, but the code above is not working anf I'm not too good with regular expressions.

RageD · 10-25-2009, 08:57 PM

Well, what exactly are you looking for?

The best thing to do is to find a single regex that searches for all that you're looking for. Else, you can use a for(); loop or similar to go through multiple regex queries, but preg_match(); will show greater signs of slow downs than str_match();

-RageD

qbert220 · 10-26-2009, 05:15 AM

Tested working code:

PHP Code:

  <?php

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=618564
 
$string = '<ul>

        <li>

                Services

                <ul>

                        <li>

                                Web Design & Development

                                <ul>

                                        <li>CMS</li>

????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=618564
                                        <li>e-Commerce</li>

                                </ul>

                        </li>

                        <li>SEO</li>

                        <li>Hosting</li>

                </ul>

                <li>About</li>

                <li>Contact</li>

        </li>

</ul>

';

 
if (preg_match('#^.*?<ul>.*?<ul>.*?(\s*<ul>.*?</ul>)#is', $string, $matches))

{

    echo $matches[1]."\n";

}

 
?>

This should display:

Code:

                                <ul>
                                        <li>CMS</li>
                                        <li>e-Commerce</li>
                                </ul>

In the preg_match:

"^" means match the start of the string
"." means match any character
"*" means zero or more of the previous element
"?" means non-greedy (matches as little as possible - be default the regexp will match as many characters as possible)
"\s" means match whitespace characters

The "i" modifier means cases insensitive
The "s" modifier enables multi-line matching

So ".*" means match zero or more of any character. Adding the "?" means match as few characters as possible. I added the "\s*" to also capture the indenting before the last <td>.

Ik · 10-26-2009, 05:34 AM

That is perfect. Thanks a lot for the explanation as well

Originally Posted by qbert220

Tested working code:

...snip...

10-23-2009, 12:33 PM	THREAD STARTER #1 (permalink)
Ik Quality // Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 911	String Manipulation Help Please see the code below. ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/programming/618564-string-manipulation-help.html Code: <ul> <li> Services <ul> <li> Web Design & Development <ul> <li>CMS</li> <li>e-Commerce</li> </ul> </li> <li>SEO</li> <li>Hosting</li> </ul> <li>About</li> <li>Contact</li> </li> </ul> I have it in a string variable, and I want to be able to get the 3rd level UL from it. So here is what I want to get: Code: <ul> <li>CMS</li> <li>e-Commerce</li> </ul> Your help is appreciated. I'm using PHP 5

10-23-2009, 01:10 PM	#2 (permalink)
sdsinc Domains my Dominion Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Web 1.0 Posts: 9,963	I would have a look at the PHP DOM parser to traverse the HTML structure, other XML libraries should do the job as well. __________________ NameNewsletter.com - free lists of available domain names ZoneFiles.net (beta) - ccTLD and gTLD droplists

10-24-2009, 01:08 PM	#3 (permalink)
qbert220 NamePros Regular Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK Posts: 394	Or you could use preg_match like this (untested): Code: if (preg_match('#^.?<ul>.?<ul>.?(<ul>.?</ul>)#i', $matches)) { echo $matches[1]; } __________________ DNS Test and Check - PHP Tutorials Credit Score Ratings FHA Loan Information

10-25-2009, 08:57 PM	#5 (permalink)
RageD Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Joliet, Illinois Posts: 1,177	Well, what exactly are you looking for? The best thing to do is to find a single regex that searches for all that you're looking for. Else, you can use a for(); loop or similar to go through multiple regex queries, but preg_match(); will show greater signs of slow downs than str_match(); -RageD __________________ Microsonic Development New Programming Video Tutorials

10-26-2009, 05:15 AM	#6 (permalink)
qbert220 NamePros Regular Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: UK Posts: 394	Tested working code: PHP Code: <?php ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=618564 $string = '<ul> <li> Services <ul> <li> Web Design & Development <ul> <li>CMS</li> ????: NamePros.com http://www.namepros.com/showthread.php?t=618564 <li>e-Commerce</li> </ul> </li> <li>SEO</li> <li>Hosting</li> </ul> <li>About</li> <li>Contact</li> </li> </ul> '; if (preg_match('#^.?<ul>.?<ul>.?(\s<ul>.?</ul>)#is', $string, $matches)) { echo $matches[1]."\n"; } ?> This should display: Code: <ul> <li>CMS</li> <li>e-Commerce</li> </ul> In the preg_match: "^" means match the start of the string "." means match any character "" means zero or more of the previous element "?" means non-greedy (matches as little as possible - be default the regexp will match as many characters as possible) "\s" means match whitespace characters The "i" modifier means cases insensitive The "s" modifier enables multi-line matching So "." means match zero or more of any character. Adding the "?" means match as few characters as possible. I added the "\s" to also capture the indenting before the last <td>. __________________ DNS Test and Check - PHP Tutorials Credit Score Ratings FHA Loan Information

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