Newbie - is there a function similar to the sql 'like' comparison operator?

I would like to be able to compare 2 strings:

If $this ---*like or similar to*--- $that

That type of thing...


I know of this page:

http://us3.php.net/manual/sl/languag...comparison.php


But I don't see something 'like' or 'similar' to something else


--
Thanks - RevDave
Cool @ hosting4days . com
[db-lists]

Hi RevDave

Theres the similar_text() function which calculates the procentage of te
similarity between
two strings.

If your looking for a check to see if a string has some specified text then
use the strpos()
function and then the identical comparison operator to check for true and
false


Kalle Sommer Nielsen
DR - www.dr.dk

----- Original Message -----
From: "revDAVE" <Cool@hosting4days.com>
To: "PHP General" <php-general@lists.php.net>
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 5:20 PM
Subject: [php] Newbie - is there a function similar to the sql 'like'
comparison operator?


> Newbie - is there a function similar to the sql 'like' comparison
> operator?
>
> I would like to be able to compare 2 strings:
>
> If $this ---*like or similar to*--- $that
>
> That type of thing...
>
>
> I know of this page:
>
> http://us3.php.net/manual/sl/language.operators.comparison.php
>
>
> But I don't see something 'like' or 'similar' to something else
>
>
> --
> Thanks - RevDave
> Cool @ hosting4days . com
> [db-lists]
>
>
>
>
> --
> PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/)
> To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.10/1421 - Release Date:
> 07-05-2008 17:23
>
>

revDAVE wrote:
> Newbie - is there a function similar to the sql 'like' comparison operator?
>
> I would like to be able to compare 2 strings:
>
> If $this ---*like or similar to*--- $that
>
> That type of thing...
>
>
> I know of this page:
>
> http://us3.php.net/manual/sl/languag...comparison.php
>
>
> But I don't see something 'like' or 'similar' to something else
>
>
> --
> Thanks - RevDave
> Cool @ hosting4days . com
> [db-lists]
>
>
>
Probably the most similar that allows some wildcards (pattern matching)
is ereg(). You have more power in that you can control what must match
and how much.

In MySQL 'a' = ' a ' is true but 'a' LIKE ' a ' is false. So you need
to use the wildcard % to match anything ' xxaxx ' LIKE '%a%' is true or
_ to match one character ' a ' LIKE '_a_' is true.

The problem with similar_text() is that it gives you a percentage of
similarity which may be misleading unless you also figure in the return
of how many chars match. For example similar_text('CAT', 'CA', &$p) $p
would be 66.6%, is that like or not?

-Shawn

revDAVE wrote:
> Newbie - is there a function similar to the sql 'like' comparison operator?
>
> I would like to be able to compare 2 strings:
>
> If $this ---*like or similar to*--- $that
>
> That type of thing...

I strongly suggest you read up on regular expressions:
http://uk.php.net/manual/en/book.regex.php

Knowing how to use regular expressions is a a very handy skill. I do a
lot of mass changing of files via the command line with tools such as
grep, sed and awk and a mastery regular expressions can save hours of
laborious typing and find/replacing

Reminds me of one of my favourite xkcd cartoons:
http://xkcd.com/208/

Col