PHP Check for Multiple Numbers in a Row in a String

Question

I want to check if users are putting their phone number into a string.

Just need to check for 6 numbers (digits) in a row.

What is the best way to do this in PHP?

Example String:

blah blah553376and blah

This question appears to be off-topic because "how do I do this arbitrary thing" is not a real question. — Marty, Aug 06 '14 at 06:53
Legit question IMO. Helpful is also https://stackoverflow.com/q/11023753/1066234 — Avatar, Apr 18 '20 at 16:51

웃웃웃웃웃 · Accepted Answer · 2014-08-06T06:59:41.237

2

Try this

$str = "blah blah553376and blah";
preg_match('!\d+!', $str, $matches);//You can use preg_match('!\d{6,}!', $str, $matches); also
if(isset($matches[0]) && is_numeric($matches[0]) && strlen(trim($matches[0])) >= 6){
  echo $matches[0];
}

edited Aug 06 '14 at 06:59

answered Aug 06 '14 at 06:50

웃웃웃웃웃

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3

Why not just `\d{6,}`? – Marty Aug 06 '14 at 06:51
let them try something first .. the user has not shown a single piece of code .. :-/ – Qarib Haider Aug 06 '14 at 06:51
2

But that doesn't make my answer incorrect @SyedQarib. If the question needs to be improved then you can add a comment or flag it or once you have earned enough reputation you can vote to close the question – 웃웃웃웃웃 Aug 06 '14 at 06:54
thanks so much - I'll write a better question next time... appreciated :) – Adam Aug 06 '14 at 07:04
1

Welcome @Adam..:-) Next time when you post a question please show your efforts also – 웃웃웃웃웃 Aug 06 '14 at 07:04
@웃웃웃웃웃: I haven't said that your answer is incorrect .. what was incorrect I pointed that out .. on the question itself the first comment is 'what have you tried so far' .. so let them try first .. don't do spoon feeding .. – Qarib Haider Aug 06 '14 at 07:06
I have pointed that in my comment to add what the op have tried – 웃웃웃웃웃 Aug 06 '14 at 07:11

nanytech · Answer 2 · 2014-08-06T07:30:27.363

There are a few ways to approach this problem:

The regex solution, as pointed out by some others. I'm in no way a regex expert, but this seems to work:

$input_line="blah blah553376and blah";
$regex_line="/([a-z 0-9]*)([0-9]{6})([a-z 0-9]*)/i";
$output_array=Array();
preg_match($regex_line, $input_line, $output_array);
if($output_array[2])
{
    echo("number is:  ". $output_array[2]);
}
else
{
    echo("number not found");
}

The exhaustive iteration method:

$input_line="blah blah553376and blah";

$output_string="";
for($i=0; $i<strlen($input_line);$i++)
{
    $current_character = substr($input_line,$i,1);
    if(is_numeric ( $current_character ))
    {
        $output_string .= $current_character;
    }
    else
    {
        //reset output
        $output_string="";
    }

    if(strlen($output_string) >=6)
    {
        //bail out if requirements are met.
        break;
    }
}
if($output_string)
{
    echo("number is:  " . $output_string);
}
else
{
    echo("number not found");
}

I'm sure there are other better ways, but above are just two simple ways off the top of my head to approach this.

PHP Check for Multiple Numbers in a Row in a String

2 Answers2