I have the following string:
John 1:9
and the following php code:
$parts = preg_split('/[^a-z]/i', $a,2);
var_dump($parts);
It returns the following result (as i expect)
array (size=2)
0 => string 'John' (length=4)
1 => string '1:9' (length=3)
However, i might want the book "1 John 1:9" and it doesn't work to detect "1 John". How do i need to change the regex code to accept numbers 1-4 and a space before the book name?
Rather than just splitting then you'll need to write a regex to match each part.
You could use something like:
/^((?:[1-4] )?[a-z]+) ([\d:]*)$/
Then you'd use preg_match as follows:
preg_match('/^((?:[1-4] )?[a-z]+) ([\d:]*)$/', $string, $parts);
How about:
preg_match('/^((?:\d{1,4} )?\S+) (.+)$/', $string, $matches);
The book name (with optional number) is in $matches[1] and the rest in $matches[2]
I think the easiest way is to check if the first result is numeric and if so join the first two keys.
$parts = preg_split('/[^a-z]/i', $a);
if (is_numeric($parts[0])) {
$parts[0] = array_shift($parts) . ' ' . $parts[0];
}
var_dump($parts);
preg_split('/([1-4])?\s?[a-zA-Z]', $a,2);should sort you out :) explaining: "It may have numbers from 1-to-4, it may have a space, and it has certainly letters from a-to-z, including capitals"