Parse aptitude search using php

Question

I'm building a UI using PHP and jquery that will allow someone to type in a string and it will search apt search

What i want to do is separate (using php) the packaga name, the architecture just after the / and the description of the package just below the line of the package and architecture so i can push this data into a JSON collection and return it to jQuery.

I'm doing the following command:

$data=shell_exec("sudo apt search $searchString")

I can get the package name and the architecture using explosion on / but dont know how to get the line below

Here's an example output of this search against php:

wwwconfig-common/bionic 0.3.0 all
  Debian web auto configuration

xine-ui/bionic 0.99.9-1.3 amd64
  the xine video player, user interface

xjed/bionic 1:0.99.19-7 amd64
  editor for programmers (x11 version)

xmlsysd/bionic 2.6.0-0ubuntu4 amd64
  wulfware daemon to extract data from cluster nodes

yasat/bionic 848-1ubuntu1 all
  simple stupid audit tool

yhsm-validation-server/bionic 1.2.0-1 all
  Validation server using YubiHSM

yrmcds/bionic 1.1.8-1.1 amd64
  memcached compatible KVS with master/slave replication

yubikey-server-c/bionic 0.5-1build3 amd64
  Yubikey validation server

yubikey-val/bionic 2.38-2 all
  One-Time Password (OTP) validation server for YubiKey tokens

zabbix-frontend-php/bionic 1:3.0.12+dfsg-1 all
  network monitoring solution - PHP front-end

zendframework/bionic 1.12.20+dfsg-1ubuntu1 all
  powerful PHP framework

zendframework-bin/bionic 1.12.20+dfsg-1ubuntu1 all
  binary scripts for zendframework

Thanks for the assistance!

UPDATE:

I can get the package name and the architecture using exploding "/" but i dont know how to get the line just below. Thought i can find a nifty solution

trivial, what have you tried? also $searchString is open to command injection — Lawrence Cherone, Aug 15 '20 at 16:39
i can get the package name and the architecture using explosion on "/" on the first line but dont know how to get the description just below the line @LawrenceCherone — somejkuser, Aug 15 '20 at 16:40
@LawrenceCherone yeh i was about to ask how i can handle command injection? if a `;` then dont execute? — somejkuser, Aug 15 '20 at 16:42
To get the description, maybe you could test if line begins with a blank character (tabulation or space). — Samuel Tallet, Aug 15 '20 at 16:50
To prevent command injection, use [escapeshellarg()](http://php.net/manual/en/function.escapeshellarg.php). — Samuel Tallet, Aug 15 '20 at 17:01

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 15 '20 at 17:10

Here is a couple of ways to do it.

One is using explode with array_map (you could use normal foreach instead) and the other way using regex.

<?php
$str = 'wwwconfig-common/bionic 0.3.0 all
  Debian web auto configuration

...';
  
  
$packages = array_map(function($item) {
    
    $item = array_map('trim', explode("\n", trim($item)));
    $line = explode(" ", $item[0]);
    $line[0] = explode("/", $item[0]);
    
    return [
        'package' => $line[0][0],
        'distro' => $line[0][1],
        'version' => $line[1],  
        'arch' => $line[2], 
        'desc' => $item[1]
    ];
}, explode("\n\r", $str));

Or with regex,

preg_match_all('#(?<package>.*?)/(?<distro>.*?) (?<version>.*?) (?<arch>.*?)\n  (?<desc>.*?)\n\r#', $str, $packages);
$result = [];
foreach ($packages['package'] as $key => $value) {
    $result[] =  [
        'package' => $packages['package'][$key],
        'distro' =>  $packages['distro'][$key],
        'version' =>  $packages['version'][$key],
        'arch' =>  $packages['arch'][$key],
        'desc' =>  $packages['desc'][$key]
    ];
}

print_r($result);

Both produce the same result:

Parse aptitude search using php

1 Answers1