CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpregexstringpreg-match
GrumpyHat
GrumpyHat

Reputation: 311

Regexp - How to check whether a string starts OR ends with given character?

String that start AND ends with that character should not be a match.

Is it just easiest to do something like:

$string = '!test';
preg_match('/^(!?)([a-z0-9]{1,10})(!?)$/i', $string, $matches);

and examine $matches?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 257

Answers (1)

simbabque
simbabque

Reputation: 54323

If you just have one character at the beginning or the end, it's as simple as saying this:

/^!|!$/

No need for a capture group.

Update: To make sure you get either an exclamation mark and ten letters or ten letters and an exclamation mark, build your pattern like this:

/^!?[a-z0-9]{1,10}$|^[a-z0-9]{1,10}!?$/

It looks like it's repeating itself, but it's actually way cheaper and faster than having three capture groups.

I put together a unit test in regex101 for this.

Upvotes: 3

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