PHP - Check if a text is containing a word

Question

I want to check if my text contains one of words, probably from an array like:

$array = array('BIG','SMALL', 'NORMAL');

Example of what can contains my text variable: $text = "BEAUTIFUL BIG UMBRELLA..."; $text = "SMALL GREEN TEE-SHIRT";

I want to set a variable size; --> if my text contains the word BIG, I want to set the variable size='BIG'....

Thanks a lot.

What will happen to BIGGIE SMALLS MID-SIZED RED T-SHIRT? Or more generally, what should happen on the occurrence of multiple keywords in a sentence? — Pekka
– Pekka, Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 10:39
The text come from a csv file and contains only one occurence. — Dali
– Dali, Commented Feb 14, 2011 at 10:45

elboletaire · Accepted Answer · 2015-10-02 09:21:46Z

3

The best way is with regular expressions, as bart and IVIR3zaM said. Here is an alternate usage:

<?php
$text = "This is a normal text where find words";
$words = array('BIG','SMALL','NORMAL');

// It would be a nice practice to preg_quote all your array items:
// foreach ( $words as $k => $word ) {
//  $words[$k] = preg_quote($word);
// }

$words = join("|", $words);
$matches = array();
if ( preg_match('/' . $words . '/i', $text, $matches) ){
    echo "Words matched:";
    print_r($matches);
}

You can check it working here http://ideone.com/LwSf3P

Remember to use the /i modifier to find matches non-case-sensitive.

edited Oct 2, 2015 at 9:21

answered Feb 14, 2011 at 11:09

elboletaire

5,4272 gold badges38 silver badges48 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

bart · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-14 10:55:35Z

2

Don't be afraid of regular expressions... Try

 if(preg_match('/\b(BIG|SMALL|NORMAL)\b/', $text, $matches)) ...

The \b is to make sure you indeed have an entire word; append "i" after the slash in the pattern if you want case insensitive match.

answered Feb 14, 2011 at 10:55

bart

7,8373 gold badges36 silver badges40 bronze badges

Comments

ThiefMaster · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-14 10:38:50Z

1

Use strpos to test for a single word:

if(strpos($text, $word) !== false) { /* $text contains $word */ }

http://php.net/strpos

answered Feb 14, 2011 at 10:38

ThiefMaster

320k85 gold badges608 silver badges648 bronze badges

2 Comments

Dali Over a year ago

$word can not be an array here ! And I want to use it like an array, any solution to test for multiple words ?

Your Common Sense Over a year ago

@Bizboss there are loops to handle arrays. Do you have idea of any?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP - Check if a text is containing a word

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

Comments

Comments

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related