regex/php: parse times from string?

Question

What is the best way to parse time from a string?

Example string: "this is 10:45 this is 10:48, 10:49, 10:50, 22:15";

Expected return:

[0] = 10:45

[1] = 10:48

[2] = 10:49

[3] = 10:50

[4] = 22:15

Thanks for any replies!!

Answer 1

That looks like a pretty simple case. try preg_match_all with "/\d\d:\d\d/"

Answer 2

preg_match_all('/\d{2}:\d{2}/', $string, $matches);

You will have all your matches in $matches array.

Answer 3

This will give the output you want and limits your hour/minute numbers to valid values for the first position of the hour and the first position of the minute:

$y = "this is 10:45 this is 10:48, 10:49, 10:50, 22:15";
preg_match_all("/(([0-1]\d|2[0-3]):[0-5]\d)/",$y,$matches);
print_r($matches[1]);
/*
Outputs:
Array ( [0] => 10:45 [1] => 10:48 [2] => 10:49 [3] => 10:50 [4] => 22:15 )
/*