Checking if a string contains a specific word - PHP

Question

I need to only output true if the sentence contain a specific word.

I know I can use the code below to check if a string contains a word and it will output true.

$a = 'How are you?';    

if (strpos($a,'are') !== false) {
echo 'true';
}
else{
echo 'false';

But how would I get it to output false if $a was "Why do you care?"

It will return 'true' for 'Why do you care?' is the problem. are is in 'care' but the word 'are' is not in the sentence. — shieldstroy, Apr 17 '15 at 19:09

lafor · Answer 1 · 2015-04-17T19:11:37.343

3

Use a regex with \b anchors for word boundaries:

if(preg_match('/\bare\b/i', $sentence)) {
    echo 'true';
} else {
    echo 'false';
}

the i modifier is for case-insensitivity.

edited Apr 17 '15 at 19:11

answered Apr 17 '15 at 19:09

lafor

1 Answers1