Regex help
Jerry Stuckle
working on this for hours with no luck.
Basically I need to parse a page for certain information which will be
fed back into CURL to post to a site. I need to find four types of tags
on the page:
<input type=hidden name=a1 value=b1>
<input type=text name=a2>
<input type=submit name=a3 value=b3>
<select name=a4>
I don't need any other tags.
From the hidden and submit types, I need name and value. From the text
and select types, I just need the name.
I can assume the attributes will always show up in this order, but there
may be other things between the < and > delimiters. Additionally, the
actual type and name may have single or double quotes around them, or
neither.
Does anyone have some code for this? It doesn't have to be all one regex.
TIA.
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstu...@attglobal.net
==================
Steve
"Jerry Stuckle" <jstu...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
news:KaadnQnnGt0WT4_a...@comcast.com...
> OK, I give up here. I am DEFINITELY not a Regex expert, and have been
> working on this for hours with no luck.
>
> Basically I need to parse a page for certain information which will be fed
> back into CURL to post to a site. I need to find four types of tags on
> the page:
>
> <input type=hidden name=a1 value=b1>
> <input type=text name=a2>
> <input type=submit name=a3 value=b3>
> <select name=a4>
>
> I don't need any other tags.
>
> From the hidden and submit types, I need name and value. From the text
> and select types, I just need the name.
>
> I can assume the attributes will always show up in this order, but there
> may be other things between the < and > delimiters. Additionally, the
> actual type and name may have single or double quotes around them, or
> neither.
>
> Does anyone have some code for this? It doesn't have to be all one regex.
alright, jer. let's see what we can do...
here's an eyeballed attempt:
<(select\s?[^>].*?)|(input\s[^t]*?type\s*?=\s?('|"|\s)(hidden|text|submit)\3[^>].*?)>
to keep it easier, i'd think about using that to get your general matches.
iterating through those, i'd apply another regex to break out the name,
type, and value. you could very well catch it all in the above, however,
it's not as straightforward and hence, not easily maintained. if you need
additional help on writing this, let me know. i'll psuedo-code the whole
enchillada if you want. this should be sufficient in getting only those tags
you listed above...which is a good start.
btw, make the seach caseINsensitive.
Captain Paralytic
> ==================
Could you use the php dom functionality for this?
Wouldn't it be good if php had the equivalent of
getElementsByTagName()!
Jerry Stuckle
Hi, Steve,
Yep, it's a start. Some problems (output below), but I think it will
get me a little farther.
And you're right, I already gave up on getting everything in one pass.
I was thinking of trying to just get everything for a single element
type (i.e. all <input type=text ...> elements), but this gives me
another idea, also.
And the output from the first try:
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => <select n
[1] => <select n
[2] => <select n
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => select n
[1] => select n
[2] => select n
)
[2] => Array
(
[0] =>
[1] =>
[2] =>
)
[3] => Array
(
[0] =>
[1] =>
[2] =>
)
[4] => Array
(
[0] =>
[1] =>
[2] =>
)
)
Jerry Stuckle
Hi, Paul,
How I wish I could - it was the first thing I tried. However, this page
is not well formed html, and DOM throws up all over it.
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstu...@attglobal.net
==================
Captain Paralytic
> ==================- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Of course, when I said: "Wouldn't it be good if php had the equivalent
of getElementsByTagName()!", I meant that it would be good if its
version was as tolerant as javascript's one.
Steve
well, that's no so good a start! i'll break out the old regex ide and fix
that...if you want.
Jerry Stuckle
If you have the time, I would appreciate it. Otherwise I can struggle
through this myself :-)
Jerry Stuckle
Very true, Paul!
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstu...@attglobal.net
==================
Steve
ok, here's the one to get the select:
(select)\s*?[^n].*?(name)\s*?=\s*?(?:\'|")?([^\3>]*)?\3?\s*?[^>]
here's the one to break out the inputs and capture each type, name, and
value:
(input)\s*?[^n].*?(?:(name|type|value)\s*?=\s*?(?:'|")?([^\2>]*?)\2?(?:\s)?)*?>
the problem with this one though, is that it debugs fine in 'the regulator'
regex ide. however, some of the captures are being overwritten under
preg_match_all.
the implementation would have been an array of these two patterns. preg
should return the type (select or input)...from that point, you'd know where
in the matches to find the type, name, and value regardless of the order in
which it came. as it is, you can use $matches[0][...n] on the input pattern
matches to iterate the full input match.
hope that helps.
Paul Lautman
>
> (select)\s*?[^n].*?(name)\s*?=\s*?(?:\'|")?([^\3>]*)?\3?\s*?[^>]
>
> here's the one to break out the inputs and capture each type, name,
> and value:
>
> (input)\s*?[^n].*?(?:(name|type|value)\s*?=\s*?(?:'|")?([^\2>]*?)\2?(?:\s)?)*?>
Strange, when I tried to find this thread in OE instead of on Google, it was
up before a 2007-06-22 post instead of at the bottom of the list. Wierd.
I have to say that, on the occations when I ask for help on a REGEX and the
answer comes back from someone far more expert than me (doesn't take much),
looking as horrendous as Steve's solution (no offence meant), I feel sort of
vindicated. One always suspects that one's problem should be solvable with a
really short clever bit of regex. One forgets that the really clever stuff
looks like Steve's solution!
Jerry Stuckle
Thanks much, Steve! I think I can make it from here.
Jerry Stuckle
Paul,
Yes, I had the same topic as an older thread, and evidently Giganews
attached my post to the thread.
Strange... I didn't even have the thread displayed (it was long since
read).
Steve
"Paul Lautman" <paul.l...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:5nhpj9F...@mid.individual.net...
keep in mind, please, that regex is another language in itself and is fully
capable of the same indentation and commenting as any other language. were i
to have known i was going to be graded, i may have done both.
if you are uncomfortable using regex, don't. as for the rest of us who
understand it, it is an irreplaceable tool.
Steve
not a problem. keep 'em truck'n.
Steve
hey...did you notice this above? it should be [^ntv]
they may account for some of the wierdness. ;^)
Captain Paralytic
> "Paul Lautman" <paul.laut...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
>
> news:5nhpj9F...@mid.individual.net...
>
>
>
>
>
> > Steve wrote:
> >> "Jerry Stuckle" <jstuck...@attglobal.net> wrote in message
> >> ok, here's the one to get the select:
>
> >> (select)\s*?[^n].*?(name)\s*?=\s*?(?:\'|")?([^\3>]*)?\3?\s*?[^>]
>
> >> here's the one to break out the inputs and capture each type, name,
> >> and value:
>
>
> > Strange, when I tried to find this thread in OE instead of on Google, it
> > was up before a 2007-06-22 post instead of at the bottom of the list.
> > Wierd.
>
> > I have to say that, on the occations when I ask for help on a REGEX and
> > the answer comes back from someone far more expert than me (doesn't take
> > much), looking as horrendous as Steve's solution (no offence meant), I
> > feel sort of vindicated. One always suspects that one's problem should be
> > solvable with a really short clever bit of regex. One forgets that the
> > really clever stuff looks like Steve's solution!
>
> keep in mind, please, that regex is another language in itself and is fully
> capable of the same indentation and commenting as any other language. were i
> to have known i was going to be graded, i may have done both.
>
> if you are uncomfortable using regex, don't. as for the rest of us who
>
> - Show quoted text -
Read again Steve. I was complimenting you on your skill, not deriding
your style.
Steve
"Captain Paralytic" <paul_l...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1192526378.1...@y27g2000pre.googlegroups.com...
i know paul. there was no venom in my response either. just a nod that while
regex can be daunting, tasks can be accomplished in other ways if it doesn't
suit. anyway, i didn't take offense...hope you didn't either.
cheers
Jerry Stuckle
Yep, and I got it working. Thanks again!
Steve
awesome! any time. and, i'm sure i'll have plenty of questions i need help
answering in the future.
l8r.