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regex question redux regarding definition list

Answer 1

A:

([^=|]*)=([^|]*)(?:\||$)

to skip the ones with out a value, try this:

(?:[^=|]*=|([^=|]*)=([^|]+))(?:\||$)

2009-12-12 04:39:30

unfortunately that didn't do it.

jeff 2009-12-12 04:54:13

are you sure? I just tested it and it worked fine

2009-12-12 04:58:02

ah, wait, you want to skip the ones that are missing a value?

2009-12-12 04:58:49

correct, thats right

jeff 2009-12-12 05:02:54

You don't want to skip ones without a value, you need to replace them with nothing so they no longer are contained in the string.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:08:20

then the second regex should take care of that

2009-12-12 05:08:20

My regex editor is saying that this is not valid: (?:[^=|]*=|([^=|]*)=([^|]+))(?:\||$)

jeff 2009-12-12 05:16:40

it is, I tested it out

2009-12-12 05:19:06

Not sure what the deal is then.

jeff 2009-12-12 05:22:12

It is valid, but it is also broken. :) It outputs empty `<dt>` and `<dd>` elements instead of not outputting anything for a key without a value.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:36:38

you are right, it would generate empty tags, my bad

2009-12-12 22:34:01

Answer 2

+2 A:

Here is how you can do it in PHP without using regular expressions:

$parts_list = explode('|', "Bristle Material=|Wire M....");
$parts      = "";

foreach( $parts_list as $part ){
 $p = explode('=', $part);
 if(!empty($p[1])) $parts .= "<dt>$p[0]</dt>\n<dd>$p[1]</dd>\n";
}

echo $parts;

And here is how you can do it with regular expressions:

$parts = preg_replace( 
    array('/([^=|]*)=(?:\||$)/','/([^=|]*)=([^|]+)(?:\||$)/'),
    array('', '<dt>$1</dt><dd>$2</dd>'),
    $inputString 
);

echo $parts;

Update

This is using a special replace feature of the PHP preg_replace which takes an array of regex expressions, and an array of replacement strings. The array() syntax of the function basically equates to this:

If I can match this: /([^=|]*)=(?:\||$)/ then replace it with an empty string.
If I can match this: /([^=|]*)=([^|]+)(?:\||$)/ then replace it with <dt>$1</dt><dd>$2</dd>

To test it in a Regex editor, you would run the first expression first (/([^=|]*)=(?:\||$)/) then run the second expression on the result of the first expression.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:05:02

Tried pasting this into my regex editor. For some reason its not working. /([^=|]*)=(?:\||$)/','/([^=|]*)=([^|]+)(?:\||$)/

jeff 2009-12-12 05:19:08

Jeff, since you are using PHP (as you mentioned in the other post), just use it in PHP. A simple regex will not do what you want, because you need to *remove* an element without a value, but *replace* elements that do have values. The code I have given you I tested in PHP with your input string and it works. There are two separate regexes in their (using the php `array` to use them both): First: `/([^=|]*)=(?:\||$)/` Second: `/([^=|]*)=([^|]+)(?:\||$)/`

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:26:27

Jeff, I updated my answer so you could better see what was going on.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:30:31

Thank you for helping. I am using PHP for the application, but made the assumption that I could just do a simple replacement in a text editor. The source data contains thousands of records in one column of a flat file.

jeff 2009-12-12 05:46:29

Jeff, here is a trick that might help you. Setup a php file with a line that has `$inputString = "...pastelargefilehere...";` and my second solution above. Then from the command line (on a Mac or Linux box this will work, not sure how it works on a PC) run `php -f /path/to/file.php > /path/to/processes.txt` and it will parse the text for you and create a text file with the response.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:49:26

Sounds like it may work, but what about the other data in the file. Its a CSV file. I am only trying to change data in one column. Won't it cause issue with the rest of the data?

jeff 2009-12-12 05:55:19

Then just copy the one line out for processing, run it through the php file, and paste the results back in place of the original line.

Doug Neiner 2009-12-12 05:59:30

I'll give that a whirl in the morning. Thanks again for your help

jeff 2009-12-12 06:05:04

Thanks again for all your help. I took a different approach. I used your php code to change the value on the front end of the site as the product is being displayed instead of transforming the data in the import file. I don't know why I didn't think of this before

jeff 2009-12-12 19:05:54

Answer 3

A:

looks like you want preg_match here rather than preg_replace

 preg_match_all('~([^|]+)=([^|\s][^|]*)~', $str, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER);
 foreach($matches as $match)
      echo "<dt>{$match[1]}</dt><dd>{$match[2]}</dd>\n";

stereofrog 2009-12-12 11:19:36

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regex question redux regarding definition list

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