Help with regular expression please

[Noozer]

Trying to parse some strings and I could really use some help with a regular
expression (and how to test it in php).

My sample strings:

Bob 1/0/X0 134 128 1 5 Data
A comment line
Bob 1/0/X2 84 82 25 0 COMPARTMENT1-3
Bob 1/0/X1 1710 167 0 4 123 N/A
Bob 11/0/X3 84 7 0 6 Data

I'm trying to identify any string that starts with "Bob", then a space, then
a digit OR a space, then #/#/X#, three spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some
spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some
spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, some alpha characters.

In my sample, the first, third and fifth strings would test positive.

I'm sure I've botched this up, but this is what I have so far.

if (
ereg('^Bob..[0-9]/[0-9]/X[0-9]\b[0-9]{1,4}(.{9,13})[0-9]{2,4}(.{9,13})[A-Za-z]*'
, $line ) ) { ...mycode... }

[Rik]

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 11:11:42 +0200, Noozer <do*******@me.herewrote:

Trying to parse some strings and I could really use some help with a
regular
expression (and how to test it in php).

My sample strings:

Bob 1/0/X0 134 128 1 5 Data
A comment line
Bob 1/0/X2 84 82 25 0 COMPARTMENT1-3
Bob 1/0/X1 1710 167 0 4 123 N/A
Bob 11/0/X3 84 7 0 6 Data

I'm trying to identify any string that starts with "Bob", then a space,
then
a digit OR a space, then #/#/X#, three spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number,
some
spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some
spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, some alpha characters.

In my sample, the first, third and fifth strings would test positive.

I'm sure I've botched this up, but this is what I have so far.

if (
ereg('^Bob..[0-9]/[0-9]/X[0-9]\b[0-9]{1,4}(.{9,13})[0-9]{2,4}(.{9,13})[A-Za-z]*'
, $line ) ) { ...mycode... }

preg_match('%
^Bob #start of string
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
[0-9]{1,2} #1 or 2 digits
/ #literal
[0-9] #digit
/X #literal
[0-9] #digit
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
[0-9]+ #digit(s)
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
[0-9]+ #digit(s)
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
[0-9]+ #digit(s)
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
[0-9]+ #digit(s)
\s+ #arbitrary whitespace
.+ #rest of data
%ix',$line);

Then again: http://www.php.net/sscanf

$lineparts = sscanf($line,'Bob %d/%d/X%d %d %d %d %d %s');
--
Rik Wasmus

[Alan]

"Noozer" <do*******@me.herewrote in message
news:i%_ni.132646$1i1.126404@pd7urf3no...

Trying to parse some strings .... My sample strings:

Bob 1/0/X0 134 128 1 5 Data
A comment line
Bob 1/0/X2 84 82 25 0 COMPARTMENT1-3
Bob 1/0/X1 1710 167 0 4 123 N/A
Bob 11/0/X3 84 7 0 6 Data

I'm trying to identify any string that starts with "Bob", then a space,
then a digit OR a space, then #/#/X#, three spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number,
some spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number,
some spaces, a 1 to 4 digit number, some spaces, some alpha characters.

In my sample, the first, third and fifth strings would test positive.

preg_match('%^Bob\s+\d{1,2}/\d/X\d\s+\d{1,4}\s+\d{1,4}\s+\d{1,4}\s+\d{1,4}\s+[a-z]+.+%ix',$exstr);

I think previous reply may also match your example 4

hth
Alan