I'm trying to create an advanced search feature for my site, and I
have it mostly working the way I want. I take whatever search term
($searchkey) that the user submits, explodes if off any spaces
between words, and then use that to search for each word separately.

$keys = explode(" ",$searchkey);

So the search phrase of:

Dog Cat Horse

would output :

Array
(
[0] => Dog
[1] => Cat
[2] => Horse
)

However, I would like to add the ability to have phrases in there
indicated by " marks. So, if the search phrase was this:

"Dog Cat" Horse

It would output:

Array
(
[0] => Dog Cat
[1] => Horse
)

My concept to solve this is right before I explode the keys as above,
to replace any spaces within " marks with a garbage string of
characters (say XXXXXXXXXX) using a regular expression, and then
later replace it back with a space. However, I suck at regular
expressions and can't figure it out.

Anyone have a way for me to accomplish this with a regular expression
or with another method?

--
Kevin Murphy
Webmaster: Information and Marketing Services
Western Nevada College
www.wnc.edu
775-445-3326

P.S. Please note that my e-mail and website address have changed from
wncc.edu to wnc.edu.

Go here and get charprobe http://www.dextronet.com/charprobe.php It's a super
utility to have.

Look up the hex code for a space, "/x20" as I recall.

Then pick a non-printable code that you like e.g., /x83 or a printable one that
users cannot enter.

Then simply preg_replace("%/x20+%", "/83", $string); //one or more spaces

If you want to preserve the number of spaces don't use "+".


Kevin Murphy wrote:
> I'm trying to create an advanced search feature for my site, and I have
> it mostly working the way I want. I take whatever search term
> ($searchkey) that the user submits, explodes if off any spaces between
> words, and then use that to search for each word separately.
>
> $keys = explode(" ",$searchkey);
>
> So the search phrase of:
>
> Dog Cat Horse
>
> would output :
>
> Array
> (
> [0] => Dog
> [1] => Cat
> [2] => Horse
> )
>
> However, I would like to add the ability to have phrases in there
> indicated by " marks. So, if the search phrase was this:
>
> "Dog Cat" Horse
>
> It would output:
>
> Array
> (
> [0] => Dog Cat
> [1] => Horse
> )
>
> My concept to solve this is right before I explode the keys as above, to
> replace any spaces within " marks with a garbage string of characters
> (say XXXXXXXXXX) using a regular expression, and then later replace it
> back with a space. However, I suck at regular expressions and can't
> figure it out.
>
> Anyone have a way for me to accomplish this with a regular expression or
> with another method?
>

On Fri, 2007-10-19 at 09:48 -0700, Kevin Murphy wrote:
> I'm trying to create an advanced search feature for my site, and I
> have it mostly working the way I want. I take whatever search term
> ($searchkey) that the user submits, explodes if off any spaces
> between words, and then use that to search for each word separately.
>
> $keys = explode(" ",$searchkey);
>
> So the search phrase of:
>
> Dog Cat Horse
>
> would output :
>
> Array
> (
> [0] => Dog
> [1] => Cat
> [2] => Horse
> )
>
> However, I would like to add the ability to have phrases in there
> indicated by " marks. So, if the search phrase was this:
>
> "Dog Cat" Horse
>
> It would output:
>
> Array
> (
> [0] => Dog Cat
> [1] => Horse
> )
>
> My concept to solve this is right before I explode the keys as above,
> to replace any spaces within " marks with a garbage string of
> characters (say XXXXXXXXXX) using a regular expression, and then
> later replace it back with a space. However, I suck at regular
> expressions and can't figure it out.
>
> Anyone have a way for me to accomplish this with a regular expression
> or with another method?

<?php

$foo = '"dog cat" horse mouse "tiger fish"';

if( preg_match_all( '/[[:space:]]+(("[^"]*")|([^[:space:]]+))/', '
'.$foo, $bits ) )
{
print_r( $bits );
}

?>

Cheers,
Rob.
--
.................................................. ..........
SwarmBuy.com - http://www.swarmbuy.com

Leveraging the buying power of the masses!
.................................................. ..........