Reputation: 5830

How to get a substring between two strings in PHP?

I need a function that returns the substring between two words (or two characters). I'm wondering whether there is a php function that achieves that. I do not want to think about regex (well, I could do one but really don't think it's the best way to go). Thinking of strpos and substr functions. Here's an example:

$string = "foo I wanna a cake foo";

We call the function: $substring = getInnerSubstring($string,"foo");
It returns: " I wanna a cake ".

Update: Well, till now, I can just get a substring beteen two words in just one string, do you permit to let me go a bit farther and ask if I can extend the use of getInnerSubstring($str,$delim) to get any strings that are between delim value, example:

$string =" foo I like php foo, but foo I also like asp foo, foo I feel hero  foo";

I get an array like {"I like php", "I also like asp", "I feel hero"}.

Upvotes: 203

Answers (30)

fabpico

Reputation: 2917

private function getStringBetween(string $from, string $to, string $haystack): string
{
    $fromPosition = strpos($haystack, $from) + strlen($from);
    $toPosition = strpos($haystack, $to, $fromPosition);
    $betweenLength = $toPosition - $fromPosition;
    return substr($haystack, $fromPosition, $betweenLength);
}

Upvotes: 3

George John

Reputation: 2767

Here is a code sample for getting text between two strings with offset as a string.

get_string_between($string, $start, $end, $offset = null)
{
    $offset = !empty($offset) ? (strpos($string, $offset) + strlen($offset)) : 0;


    if (empty($start) || empty($end)) {
        return null;
    }

    //Index of start string
    $start = strpos($string, $start, $offset) + strlen($start);
    //Index of end string
    $end = strpos($string, $end, $start);
    $length = $end - $start;
    return substr($string, $start, $length);
}

Upvotes: -1

Ahlicoding.com

Reputation: 1

Well , for me just 3 lines with explode, but you must initiate left_border and right_border of the substring.

function getInnerSubstring($substring,$left,$right){
    $string = explode($left,$substring)[1];
    return explode($right,$string)[0];
}

Upvotes: -1

ragnar

Reputation: 1302

I like the regular expression solutions but none of the others suit me.

If you know there is only gonna be 1 result you can use the following:

$between = preg_replace('/(.*)BEFORE(.*)AFTER(.*)/s', '\2', $string);

Change BEFORE and AFTER to the desired delimiters.

Also keep in mind this function will return the whole string in case nothing matched.

This solution is multiline but you can play with the modifiers depending on your needs.

Upvotes: 16

Micheal Mouner Mikhail Youssif

Reputation: 909

easy solution using substr

$posStart = stripos($string, $start) + strlen($start);
$length = stripos($string, $end) - $posStart;

$substring = substr($string,  $posStart,  $length);

Upvotes: 1

nxy

Reputation: 93

Simple, short, and sweet. It's up to you to make any enhancements.

function getStringBetween($str, $start, $end) 
{
    $pos1 = strpos($str, $start);
    $pos2 = strpos($str, $end);
    return substr($str, $pos1+1, $pos2-($pos1+1));
 }

Upvotes: 5

Maizied Hasan Majumder

Reputation: 1053

Get specific text's and push into an array in php:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

<?php
function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $string = ' ' . $string;
    $ini = strpos($string, $start);
    if ($ini == 0) return '';
    $ini += strlen($start);
    $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini;
    return substr($string, $ini, $len);
}


$fullstring = '.layout { 

color: {{ base_color }} 

}

li { 

color: {{ sub_color }} 

} 

.text { 

color: {{ txt_color }}

 }

 .btn { 

color: {{ btn_color }}

 }

.more_text{

color:{{more_color}}

}';


$arr = [];

while(1){
  $parsed = get_string_between($fullstring, '{{', '}}');
  if(!$parsed)
    break;
  array_push($arr,$parsed);
  $strposition = strpos($fullstring,"}}");
  $nextString = substr($fullstring, $strposition+1, strlen($fullstring));
  $fullstring = $nextString;
  echo "<br>";
}
print_r($arr);

?>

</body>
</html>

Without array:

<?php
function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $string = ' ' . $string;
    $ini = strpos($string, $start);
    if ($ini == 0) return '';
    $ini += strlen($start);
    $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini;
    return substr($string, $ini, $len);
}


$fullstring = '.layout { 

color: {{ base_color }} 

}

li { 

color: {{ sub_color }} 

} 

.text { 

color: {{ txt_color }}

 }

 .btn { 

color: {{ btn_color }}

 }

.more_text{

color:{{more_color}}

}';


while(1){
  $parsed = get_string_between($fullstring, '{{', '}}');
  if(!$parsed)
    break;
  echo $parsed;
  $strposition = strpos($fullstring,"}}");
  $nextString = substr($fullstring, $strposition+1, strlen($fullstring));
  $fullstring = $nextString;
  echo "<br>";
}

?>

For single output, remove the array and loops.

<?php
function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $string = ' ' . $string;
    $ini = strpos($string, $start);
    if ($ini == 0) return '';
    $ini += strlen($start);
    $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini;
    return substr($string, $ini, $len);
}


$fullstring = '.layout { 

color: {{ base_color }} 

}

li { 

color: {{ sub_color }} 

} 

.text { 

color: {{ txt_color }}

 }

 .btn { 

color: {{ btn_color }}

 }

.more_text{

color:{{more_color}}

}';

  $parsed = get_string_between($fullstring, '{{', '}}');
  echo $parsed;

?>

Upvotes: -1

Harsh Pratap Bhardwaj

Reputation: 1

function img($n,$str){

    $first=$n."tag/";
    $n+=1;
    $last=$n."tag/";
    $frm = stripos($str,$first);
    $to = stripos($str,$last);
    echo $frm."<br>";
    echo $to."<br>";
    $to=($to=="")?(strlen($str)-$frm):($to-$frm);
    $final = substr($str,$frm,$to);
    echo $to."<br>";
    echo $final."<br>";

}


$str = "1tag/Ilove.php2tag/youlike.java3tag/youlike.php";
img(1,$str);

img(2,$str);

img(3,$str);

Upvotes: -1

hamlet237

Reputation: 49

Consider this function. It accepts both position number, and strings arguments:

function get_string_between($string, $start = '', $end = ''){
    if (empty($start)) {
      $start = 0;
    }elseif (!is_numeric($start)) {
      $start = strpos($string, $start) + strlen($start);
    }

    if (empty($end)) {
      $end = strlen($string);
    }elseif (!is_numeric($end)) {
      $end = strpos($string, $end);
    }

    return substr($string, $start, ($end - $start));
  }

Results:

echo get_string_between($string); // result = this is my [tag]dog[/tag]
echo get_string_between($string, 0); // result = this is my [tag]dog[/tag]
echo get_string_between($string, ''); // result = this is my [tag]dog[/tag]
echo get_string_between($string, '[tag]'); // result = dog[/tag]
echo get_string_between($string, 0, '[/tag]'); // result = this is my [tag]dog
echo get_string_between($string, '', '[/tag]'); // result = this is my [tag]dog
echo get_string_between($string, '[tag]', '[/tag]'); // result = dog
echo get_string_between($string, '[tag]', strlen($string)); // dog[/tag]

Upvotes: -1

user7090116

Reputation:

It can be easily done using this small function:

function getString($string, $from, $to) {
    $str = explode($from, $string);
    $str = explode($to, $str[1]);
    return $s[0];
}
$myString = "<html>Some code</html>";
print getString($myString, '<html>', '</html>');

// Prints: Some code

Upvotes: -1

daniel

Reputation: 339

function getBetween($string, $start = "", $end = ""){
    if (strpos($string, $start)) { // required if $start not exist in $string
        $startCharCount = strpos($string, $start) + strlen($start);
        $firstSubStr = substr($string, $startCharCount, strlen($string));
        $endCharCount = strpos($firstSubStr, $end);
        if ($endCharCount == 0) {
            $endCharCount = strlen($firstSubStr);
        }
        return substr($firstSubStr, 0, $endCharCount);
    } else {
        return '';
    }
}

Sample use:

echo getBetween("abc","a","c"); // returns: 'b'

echo getBetween("hello","h","o"); // returns: 'ell'

echo getBetween("World","a","r"); // returns: ''

Upvotes: 33

Quirinus

Reputation: 482

A vast majority of answers here don't answer the edited part, I guess they were added before. It can be done with regex, as one answer mentions. I had a different approach.

This function searches $string and finds the first string between $start and $end strings, starting at $offset position. It then updates the $offset position to point to the start of the result. If $includeDelimiters is true, it includes the delimiters in the result.

If the $start or $end string are not found, it returns null. It also returns null if $string, $start, or $end are an empty string.

function str_between(string $string, string $start, string $end, bool $includeDelimiters = false, int &$offset = 0): ?string
{
    if ($string === '' || $start === '' || $end === '') return null;

    $startLength = strlen($start);
    $endLength = strlen($end);

    $startPos = strpos($string, $start, $offset);
    if ($startPos === false) return null;

    $endPos = strpos($string, $end, $startPos + $startLength);
    if ($endPos === false) return null;

    $length = $endPos - $startPos + ($includeDelimiters ? $endLength : -$startLength);
    if (!$length) return '';

    $offset = $startPos + ($includeDelimiters ? 0 : $startLength);

    $result = substr($string, $offset, $length);

    return ($result !== false ? $result : null);
}

The following function finds all strings that are between two strings (no overlaps). It requires the previous function, and the arguments are the same. After execution, $offset points to the start of the last found result string.

function str_between_all(string $string, string $start, string $end, bool $includeDelimiters = false, int &$offset = 0): ?array
{
    $strings = [];
    $length = strlen($string);

    while ($offset < $length)
    {
        $found = str_between($string, $start, $end, $includeDelimiters, $offset);
        if ($found === null) break;

        $strings[] = $found;
        $offset += strlen($includeDelimiters ? $found : $start . $found . $end); // move offset to the end of the newfound string
    }

    return $strings;
}

Examples:

str_between_all('foo 1 bar 2 foo 3 bar', 'foo', 'bar') gives [' 1 ', ' 3 '].

str_between_all('foo 1 bar 2', 'foo', 'bar') gives [' 1 '].

str_between_all('foo 1 foo 2 foo 3 foo', 'foo', 'foo') gives [' 1 ', ' 3 '].

str_between_all('foo 1 bar', 'foo', 'foo') gives [].

Upvotes: 7

SwiftNinjaPro

Reputation: 853

an edited version of what Alejandro García Iglesias put.

This allows you to pick a specific location of the string you want to get based on the number of times the result is found.

function get_string_between_pos($string, $start, $end, $pos){
    $cPos = 0;
    $ini = 0;
    $result = '';
    for($i = 0; $i < $pos; $i++){
      $ini = strpos($string, $start, $cPos);
      if ($ini == 0) return '';
      $ini += strlen($start);
      $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini;
      $result = substr($string, $ini, $len);
      $cPos = $ini + $len;
    }
    return $result;
  }

usage:

$text = 'string has start test 1 end and start test 2 end and start test 3 end to print';

//get $result = "test 1"
$result = $this->get_string_between_pos($text, 'start', 'end', 1);

//get $result = "test 2"
$result = $this->get_string_between_pos($text, 'start', 'end', 2);

//get $result = "test 3"
$result = $this->get_string_between_pos($text, 'start', 'end', 3);

strpos has an additional optional input to start its search at a specific point. so I store the previous position in $cPos so when the for loop checks again, it starts at the end of where it left off.

Upvotes: 1

Rikki Masters

Reputation: 95

Improvement of Alejandro's answer. You can leave the $start or $end arguments empty and it will use the start or end of the string.

echo get_string_between("Hello my name is bob", "my", ""); //output: " name is bob"

private function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){ // Get
    if($start != ''){ //If $start is empty, use start of the string
        $string = ' ' . $string;
        $ini = strpos($string, $start);
        if ($ini == 0) return '';
        $ini += strlen($start);
    }
    else{
        $ini = 0;
    }

    if ($end == '') { //If $end is blank, use end of string
        return substr($string, $ini);
    }
    else{
        $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini; //Work out length of string
        return substr($string, $ini, $len);
    }
}

Upvotes: 3

Ángel R.G.

Reputation: 5

I use

if (count(explode("<TAG>", $input))>1){
      $content = explode("</TAG>",explode("<TAG>", $input)[1])[0];
}else{
      $content = "";
}

Subtitue <TAG> for whatever delimiter you want.

Upvotes: 0

nkkollaw

Reputation: 2040

Regular expressions is the way to go:

$str = 'before-str-after';
if (preg_match('/before-(.*?)-after/', $str, $match) == 1) {
    echo $match[1];
}

onlinePhp

Upvotes: 151

Szekelygobe

Reputation: 2667

This is the function I'm using for this. I combined two answers in one function for single or multiple delimiters.

function getStringBetweenDelimiters($p_string, $p_from, $p_to, $p_multiple=false){
    //checking for valid main string  
    if (strlen($p_string) > 0) {
        //checking for multiple strings 
        if ($p_multiple) {
            // getting list of results by end delimiter
            $result_list = explode($p_to, $p_string);
            //looping through result list array 
            foreach ( $result_list AS $rlkey => $rlrow) {
                // getting result start position
                $result_start_pos   = strpos($rlrow, $p_from);
                // calculating result length
                $result_len         =  strlen($rlrow) - $result_start_pos;

                // return only valid rows
                if ($result_start_pos > 0) {
                    // cleanying result string + removing $p_from text from result
                    $result[] =   substr($rlrow, $result_start_pos + strlen($p_from), $result_len);                 
                }// end if 
            } // end foreach 

        // if single string
        } else {
            // result start point + removing $p_from text from result
            $result_start_pos   = strpos($p_string, $p_from) + strlen($p_from);
            // lenght of result string
            $result_length      = strpos($p_string, $p_to, $result_start_pos);
            // cleaning result string
            $result             = substr($p_string, $result_start_pos+1, $result_length );
        } // end if else 
    // if empty main string
    } else {
        $result = false;
    } // end if else 

    return $result;


} // end func. get string between

For simple use (returns two):

$result = getStringBetweenDelimiters(" one two three ", 'one', 'three');

For getting each row in a table to result array :

$result = getStringBetweenDelimiters($table, '<tr>', '</tr>', true);

Upvotes: 1

NXT

Reputation: 2011

UTF-8 version of @Alejandro Iglesias answer, will work for non-latin characters:

function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $string = ' ' . $string;
    $ini = mb_strpos($string, $start, 0, 'UTF-8');
    if ($ini == 0) return '';
    $ini += mb_strlen($start, 'UTF-8');
    $len = mb_strpos($string, $end, $ini, 'UTF-8') - $ini;
    return mb_substr($string, $ini, $len, 'UTF-8');
}

$fullstring = 'this is my [tag]dog[/tag]';
$parsed = get_string_between($fullstring, '[tag]', '[/tag]');

echo $parsed; // (result = dog)

Upvotes: 0

Bryce

Reputation: 1068

use strstr php function twice.

$value = "This is a great day to be alive";
$value = strstr($value, "is"); //gets all text from needle on
$value = strstr($value, "be", true); //gets all text before needle
echo $value;

outputs: "is a great day to"

Upvotes: 22

Light93

Reputation: 982

Not a php pro. but i recently ran into this wall too and this is what i came up with.

function tag_contents($string, $tag_open, $tag_close){
   foreach (explode($tag_open, $string) as $key => $value) {
       if(strpos($value, $tag_close) !== FALSE){
            $result[] = substr($value, 0, strpos($value, $tag_close));;
       }
   }
   return $result;
}

$string = "i love cute animals, like [animal]cat[/animal],
           [animal]dog[/animal] and [animal]panda[/animal]!!!";

echo "<pre>";
print_r(tag_contents($string , "[animal]" , "[/animal]"));
echo "</pre>";

//result
Array
(
    [0] => cat
    [1] => dog
    [2] => panda
)

Upvotes: 12

Paolo

Reputation: 15827

In PHP's strpos style this will return false if the start mark sm or the end mark em are not found.

This result (false) is different from an empty string that is what you get if there is nothing between the start and end marks.

function between( $str, $sm, $em )
{
    $s = strpos( $str, $sm );
    if( $s === false ) return false;
    $s += strlen( $sm );
    $e = strpos( $str, $em, $s );
    if( $e === false ) return false;
    return substr( $str, $s, $e - $s );
}

The function will return only the first match.

It's obvious but worth mentioning that the function will first look for sm and then for em.

This implies you may not get the desired result/behaviour if em has to be searched first and then the string have to be parsed backward in search of sm.

Upvotes: 1

Wh1T3h4Ck5

Reputation: 8509

Here's a function

function getInnerSubstring($string, $boundstring, $trimit=false) {
    $res = false;
    $bstart = strpos($string, $boundstring);
    if ($bstart >= 0) {
        $bend = strrpos($string, $boundstring);
        if ($bend >= 0 && $bend > $bstart)
            $res = substr($string, $bstart+strlen($boundstring), $bend-$bstart-strlen($boundstring));
    }
    return $trimit ? trim($res) : $res;
}

Use it like

$string = "foo I wanna a cake foo";
$substring = getInnerSubstring($string, "foo");

echo $substring;

Output (note that it returns spaces in front and at the and of your string if exist)

I wanna a cake

If you want to trim result use function like

$substring = getInnerSubstring($string, "foo", true);

Result: This function will return false if $boundstring was not found in $string or if $boundstring exists only once in $string, otherwise it returns substring between first and last occurrence of $boundstring in $string.

References

Upvotes: 3

NotaGuruAtAll

Reputation: 533

With some error catching. Specifically, most of the functions presented require $end to exist, when in fact in my case I needed it to be optional. Use this is $end is optional, and evaluate for FALSE if $start doesn't exist at all:

function get_string_between( $string, $start, $end ){
    $string = " " . $string;
    $start_ini = strpos( $string, $start );
    $end = strpos( $string, $end, $start+1 );
    if ($start && $end) {
        return substr( $string, $start_ini + strlen($start), strlen( $string )-( $start_ini + $end ) );
    } elseif ( $start && !$end ) {
        return substr( $string, $start_ini + strlen($start) );
    } else {
        return FALSE;
    }

}

Upvotes: 0

Asif Rahman

Reputation: 83

<?php
  function getBetween($content,$start,$end){
    $r = explode($start, $content);
    if (isset($r[1])){
        $r = explode($end, $r[1]);
        return $r[0];
    }
    return '';
  }
?>

Example:

<?php 
  $content = "Try to find the guy in the middle with this function!";
  $start = "Try to find ";
  $end = " with this function!";
  $output = getBetween($content,$start,$end);
  echo $output;
?>

This will return "the guy in the middle".

Upvotes: 7

Dave

Reputation: 3091

Try this, Its work for me, get data between test word.

$str = "Xdata test HD01 test 1data";  
$result = explode('test',$str);   
print_r($result);
echo $result[1];

Upvotes: 1

OMi Shah

Reputation: 6186

echo explode('/', explode(')', $string)[0])[1];

Replace '/', with your first character/string and ')' with your ending character/string. :)

Upvotes: -1

Alejandro García Iglesias

Reputation: 16412

If the strings are different (ie: [foo] & [/foo]), take a look at this post from Justin Cook. I copy his code below:

function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $string = ' ' . $string;
    $ini = strpos($string, $start);
    if ($ini == 0) return '';
    $ini += strlen($start);
    $len = strpos($string, $end, $ini) - $ini;
    return substr($string, $ini, $len);
}

$fullstring = 'this is my [tag]dog[/tag]';
$parsed = get_string_between($fullstring, '[tag]', '[/tag]');

echo $parsed; // (result = dog)

Upvotes: 422

Dave

Reputation: 1

wrote these some time back, found it very useful for a wide range of applications.

<?php

// substr_getbykeys() - Returns everything in a source string that exists between the first occurance of each of the two key substrings
//          - only returns first match, and can be used in loops to iterate through large datasets
//          - arg 1 is the first substring to look for
//          - arg 2 is the second substring to look for
//          - arg 3 is the source string the search is performed on.
//          - arg 4 is boolean and allows you to determine if returned result should include the search keys.
//          - arg 5 is boolean and can be used to determine whether search should be case-sensative or not.
//

function substr_getbykeys($key1, $key2, $source, $returnkeys, $casematters) {
    if ($casematters === true) {
        $start = strpos($source, $key1);
        $end = strpos($source, $key2);
    } else {
        $start = stripos($source, $key1);
        $end = stripos($source, $key2);
    }
    if ($start === false || $end === false) { return false; }
    if ($start > $end) {
        $temp = $start;
        $start = $end;
        $end = $temp;
    }
    if ( $returnkeys === true) {
        $length = ($end + strlen($key2)) - $start;
    } else {
        $start = $start + strlen($key1);
        $length = $end - $start;
    }
    return substr($source, $start, $length);
}

// substr_delbykeys() - Returns a copy of source string with everything between the first occurance of both key substrings removed
//          - only returns first match, and can be used in loops to iterate through large datasets
//          - arg 1 is the first key substring to look for
//          - arg 2 is the second key substring to look for
//          - arg 3 is the source string the search is performed on.
//          - arg 4 is boolean and allows you to determine if returned result should include the search keys.
//          - arg 5 is boolean and can be used to determine whether search should be case-sensative or not.
//

function substr_delbykeys($key1, $key2, $source, $returnkeys, $casematters) {
    if ($casematters === true) {
        $start = strpos($source, $key1);
        $end = strpos($source, $key2);
    } else {
        $start = stripos($source, $key1);
        $end = stripos($source, $key2);
    }
    if ($start === false || $end === false) { return false; }
    if ($start > $end) {
        $temp = $start; 
        $start = $end;
        $end = $temp;
    }
    if ( $returnkeys === true) {
        $start = $start + strlen($key1);
        $length = $end - $start;
    } else {
        $length = ($end + strlen($key2)) - $start;  
    }
    return substr_replace($source, '', $start, $length);
}
?>

Upvotes: 0

KmeCnin

Reputation: 527

I had some problems with the get_string_between() function, used here. So I came with my own version. Maybe it could help people in the same case as mine.

protected function string_between($string, $start, $end, $inclusive = false) { 
   $fragments = explode($start, $string, 2);
   if (isset($fragments[1])) {
      $fragments = explode($end, $fragments[1], 2);
      if ($inclusive) {
         return $start.$fragments[0].$end;
      } else {
         return $fragments[0];
      }
   }
   return false;
}

Upvotes: 0

noelthegreat

Reputation: 31

If you have multiple recurrences from a single string and you have different [start] and [\end] pattern. Here's a function which output an array.

function get_string_between($string, $start, $end){
    $split_string       = explode($end,$string);
    foreach($split_string as $data) {
         $str_pos       = strpos($data,$start);
         $last_pos      = strlen($data);
         $capture_len   = $last_pos - $str_pos;
         $return[]      = substr($data,$str_pos+1,$capture_len);
    }
    return $return;
}

Upvotes: 3

How to get a substring between two strings in PHP?

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