Check if string contains the same pattern

Question

How can I check if a string has a specific pattern like this?
XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
4 alphanumeric characters then a minus sign, 4 times like the structure above.

What I would like to do is that I would like to check if a string contains this structure including "-".

I'm lost, can anyone point me in the correct direction?

Example code:

$string = "5E34-4512-ABAX-1E3D";

if ($pattern contains this structure XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX) {
echo 'The pattern is correct.';
}

else {
echo 'The pattern is invalid.';
}

Must XXXX be the same in every part? Or is 1234-asdf-7890-asg1 also valid? — Sumurai8
– Sumurai8, Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 11:18
@Sumurai8 No they can be different, like the example you posted. — user4483652
– user4483652, Commented Nov 23, 2015 at 11:18

Ashish Choudhary · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-23 11:24:29Z

1

Use regular expressions

<?php
$subject = "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX";
$pattern = '/^[a-zA-Z0-9]{4}\-[a-zA-Z0-9]{4}\-[a-zA-Z0-9]{4}\-[a-zA-Z0-9]{4}$/';
if(preg_match($pattern, $subject) == 1);
    echo 'The pattern is correct.';
} else {
    echo 'The pattern is invalid.';
}
?>

[a-zA-Z0-9] match a single character

{4} matches the character Exactly 4 times

\- matches a escaped hyphen

answered Nov 23, 2015 at 11:24

Ashish Choudhary

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1 Comment

fred727 Over a year ago

You don't need to escape hyphen at this position ;)

Calimero · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-23 11:24:09Z

0

With a perl regexp :

$string = "5E34-4512-ABAX-1E3D";

if (preg_match('/\w{4}-\w{4}-\w{4}-\w{4}/',$string)) {
    echo 'The pattern is correct.';
}

answered Nov 23, 2015 at 11:24

Calimero

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2 Comments

fred727 Over a year ago

\w is not good because it includes underscore. Moreover, there is no start-string (^) and end-string characters ($)

Calimero Over a year ago

@fred727 that's for the OP to decide.

fred727 · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-23 11:28:58Z

0

use preg_match :

$ok = preg_match('/^([0-9A-Z]{4}-){3}[0-9A-Z]{4}$/', $string)

And if you want to consider lowercase characters, use :

$ok = preg_match('/^([0-9A-Z]{4}-){3}[0-9A-Z]{4}$/i', $string)

edited Nov 23, 2015 at 11:28

answered Nov 23, 2015 at 11:22

fred727

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1 Comment

user4483652 Over a year ago

Thank you for your answer! It was a tie between you and Ashish

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