RegEx and PHP - How to match with a non mandatory parameter

Question

I am using this RegEx:

\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*

And the goal is to match words with the last one that ends with a dot, follower with 4 digits ending with a comma.

This is a test.2014,

And it works fine. Now, I would like to add the possibility to have a whitespace (\s) between the "test." and "2014,", but the whitespace is not a mandatory parameter, it should be matched if there.

Could you please help me on how to add that to my regex? How can we set not mandatory parameters ?

Thank you.

I'm pretty sure that [.*(\w)]+ doesn't match what you think it does. — Toto
– Toto, Commented Feb 13, 2014 at 15:06

Victor Bocharsky · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13 14:59:43Z

1

Try this pattern

\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+\s*(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*

\s* there is a zero or more time space. I added it before date pattern

Or try:

\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+(?=\s*\d{4}))(\s*\d{4}\s*\,)*

edited Feb 13, 2014 at 14:59

answered Feb 13, 2014 at 14:54

Victor Bocharsky

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1 Comment

Milos Cuculovic Over a year ago

Thank you Victor. Could you please give more details on what you did?

CreationTribe · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13 15:12:48Z

1

There are a couple ways you can do this. You can use the question mark, an asterisk, or you can specify the range of viable occurrences as is shown in the table below.

Regular Expressions Quantifiers
*   0 or more
+   1 or more
?   0 or 1
{3} Exactly 3
{3,}    3 or more
{3,5}   3, 4 or 5

\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+(\s+)(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*
\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+(\s*)(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*
\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+\s{0,1}(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*

edited Feb 13, 2014 at 15:12

answered Feb 13, 2014 at 14:58

CreationTribe

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4 Comments

CreationTribe Over a year ago

thanks, now that I've added multiple solutions, mind removing your comment?

Victor Bocharsky Over a year ago

I removed message. What does you meant about mind?

CreationTribe Over a year ago

Milos, you may also find Rubular helpful in parsing your regular expressions. If Rubular doesn't work for you, there are plenty of other helpful online regexp parsers.

CreationTribe Over a year ago

Victor - "mind" is like saying, "would it trouble you to ...", or "would you please ...". I guess it really comes from the idea of asking someone to be mindful of your request - or something to that effect.

Toto · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13 15:16:59Z

1

And the goal is to match words with the last one that ends with a dot, follower with 4 digits ending with a comma

(?:\s*\w+)*\s*\w+\.\d{4},

Now, I would like to add the possibility to have a whitespace (\s) between the "test." and "2014,", but the whitespace is not a mandatory parameter,

(?:\s*\w+)*\s*\w+\.\s*\d{4},

answered Feb 13, 2014 at 15:16

Toto

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Comments

Rakesh Advani · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-13 14:56:46Z

0

Try this

/\s*((\w*\.*\s*)+[.*(\w)]+(\s*)(?=\d{4}))(\d{4}\s*\,)*/

answered Feb 13, 2014 at 14:56

Rakesh Advani

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