Regular expression to fetch all @ mentioned user data from a string in PHP

Question

I have below string. This string having data (@[ID:username__FULLNAME]) of three users mentioned. I want to extract them. I have tried below code but not getting desired results.

ID is integer type
username and FULLNAME may contain numbers, letter and all kind of special chars.


$t = 'Hi @[4232:mark__MΛRK ATTLEY] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:ryan__RYΛN вυηту] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:david__DΛVID शाहिद ] how are you ? 
    ';

My PHP CODE:

$pattern = "|(?:(@\[[0-9]+:[\s\S(?!\])]+\]*))|";
preg_match_all($pattern, $string, $mentionList, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
print_r($mentionList);

Current Result:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => @[4232:mark__MÎ›RK ATTLEY] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:ryan__RYÎ›N вυηту] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:david__DÎ›VID शाहिद] how are you ? 

        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => @[4232:mark__MÎ›RK ATTLEY] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:ryan__RYÎ›N вυηту] how are you ? 
    Hi @[4232:david__DÎ›VID शाहिद] how are you ? 

        )

)

Expected Result:

Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => @[4232:mark__MÎ›RK ATTLEY]
            [1] => @[4232:ryan__RYÎ›N вυηту]
            [2] => @[4232:david__DÎ›VID शाहिद ]
        )

)

Can someone help me getting the desired results?

Thanks.

@splash58 your regex not working – Aefits Jan 18 '18 at 11:33 — Aefits, Jan 18 '18 at 11:33
https://regex101.com/r/T5Ts0m/3 – splash58 Jan 18 '18 at 11:38 — splash58, Jan 18 '18 at 11:38

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 18 '18 at 11:25

1

You can use this regex with 3 captured groups:

/@\[(\d+):(\S+)\h+(\S+)\h*\]/

RegEx Demo

RegEx Explanation:

@: Match literal @
\[: Match literal [
(\d+): Match 1+ digits and capture it in group #1 for id
:: Match literal :
(\S+): Match 1+ non-whitespace characters and capture it in group #2 for firstName
\h+: Match 1 or more horizontal whitespaces
(\S+): Match 1+ non-whitespace characters and capture it in group #3 for lastName
\h*: Match 0 or more horizontal whitespaces
\]: Match literal ]

answered Jan 18 '18 at 11:25

anubhava

761,203
64
569
643

Although I am getting expected results with your regex but alsi getting some additional data that I don;t need. I see Edwin's regex is perfect for me. TY anyway. – Aefits Jan 18 '18 at 11:35
See my comment on that answer. What is point in having definition of `@[id:firstName lastName]` and allowing just `@[]` as valid input. – anubhava Jan 18 '18 at 11:37
Yup seen. Thanks for pointing out that mistake I replaced * with + to solve – Aefits Jan 18 '18 at 11:41

Edwin · Accepted Answer · 2018-01-18T11:41:58.543

1

You can use the following regex: @\[.+\] (demo) that gets you all you have in [] plus the front @.

Check this working php demo

edited Jan 18 '18 at 11:41

answered Jan 18 '18 at 11:27

Edwin

2,146
20
26

1

It will aso match `@[4232:mark__MΛRK ATTLEY] []` or just `@[]` – anubhava Jan 18 '18 at 11:35
isn't any requirment not to match that, where `@[4232:mark__MΛRK ATTLEY] []` is the username `mark__MΛRK ATTLEY] [` ? maybe it is – Edwin Jan 18 '18 at 11:40
1

i update the original with @\[.+\] which resolved the [] or @[] issue – Aefits Jan 18 '18 at 11:41
1

@elegant-user whats about `@[4232:mark__MÎ›RK ATTLEY] i have array[10]` without ungreedy (`?' ) - https://regex101.com/r/T5Ts0m/5 – splash58 Jan 18 '18 at 11:54
@anubhava as said, that's not specified in the question, your regex is also not 100% right (see the example with the `] [`). Sure you can improve both of them, but only with more input. As for the expected result seems to be needed just the `@` and what's inside the `[ ]`. Cheers – Edwin Jan 18 '18 at 11:58
1

@Edwin now the only difference between my expression in comment and yours is question mark whick make my one ungreedy. As a result, my expression matches upto the 1st closing bracket while your one - upto the last. I think the 1st case is more suitiable to don't depend on addissional text content – splash58 Jan 18 '18 at 13:30

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 18 '18 at 11:27

Not sure if this will give you the exact output you are looking for, but yor regex is a bit too greedy. You can simplify it like this: (?:@\[[0-9]+.+?])

This should return the captured groups separately.

Not sure if the anonymous capture group is needed so it could be simplified down to (@\[[0-9]+.+?]) or possibly even (@\[.+?]).

Regular expression to fetch all @ mentioned user data from a string in PHP

3 Answers3