PHP calls '>' unknown modifer in regular expression? ( Delimiter issue )

Question

private function pageScrape( $url )
{
    $page_stream = file_get_contents( $url );
    $pattern = '/<link\s+(?=[^>]*rel="(?:[Ss]hortcut\s)?[Ii]con"\s+)(?:[^>]*href="(.+?)").*/>/';
    preg_match( $pattern, $page_stream, $matches );
    print_r( $matches );
    // echo $page_stream;
}

gives error:

Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Unknown modifier '>' in /home/foo/public_html/foo/source/class.ControlBookmark.php on line 16

PHP.net reference on pcre

http://php.net/manual/en/reference.pcre.pattern.syntax.php

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 23 '12 at 22:06

2

Use regex boundaries/delimiter in your regex pattern variable $pattern like this:

$pattern = '#<link\s+(?=[^>]*rel="(?:[Ss]hortcut\s)?[Ii]con"\s+)(?:[^>]*href="(.+?)").*/>#';

answered May 23 '12 at 22:06

anubhava

761,203
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I like forward slashes for consistency. – May 23 '12 at 22:09
1

Since your regex already has / (forward slash) it is better to avoid using / as regex delimiter (like in my answer using #) or else escape it like this \/. – anubhava May 23 '12 at 22:10
In PCRE regex you can use any of these: `/` or `#` or `~` or `|` or `@` or `;` as regex delimiter. – anubhava May 23 '12 at 22:16
...wow..that would explain a lot...I saw someone use ~...and I didn't know what the heck it was....I'll keep that in mind. – May 23 '12 at 22:18
Make not that ~ looks the coolest I think...like a regular expression angel with wings... – May 25 '12 at 15:51

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 23 '12 at 22:11

1

You problem is due to unescaped slash at the end of your expression. Try this instead:

$pattern = '/<link\s+(?=[^>]*rel="(?:[Ss]hortcut\s)?[Ii]con"\s+)(?:[^>]*href="(.+?)").*\/>/';

answered May 23 '12 at 22:11

Aleks G

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PHP calls '>' unknown modifer in regular expression? ( Delimiter issue )

2 Answers2