Check string matching with regular expression within PHP/Smarty-Template

Hey everyone,

I hope you are doing well.

I am currently working on a PHP project where I am using the Smarty template engine. I have come across a situation where I need to check if a string matches a specific pattern using regular expressions.

I am familiar with regular expressions in general, but I am not sure how to implement them within the PHP/Smarty context.
Here is an example of what I am trying to achieve:

I have a string and I want to check if it follows the pattern of having three digits, followed by a hyphen, and then two more digits (e.g., 123-45).

I know that in PHP, I can use the `preg_match()` function to check for a match with regular expressions. But with Smarty templates, I am a bit lost.

Can anyone guide me on how to use regular expressions and `preg_match()` within the Smarty template? Is there a specific Smarty function or syntax that I should be using?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

All Replies

crawford76

July 08 2023 at 08:09 PM

Hey there,

I've faced a similar situation before while working with Smarty templates in PHP, so hopefully, I can assist you with this one. To utilize regular expressions within Smarty templates, you can make use of Smarty's built-in `regex_replace` modifier.

In your case, if you want to check if a string matches the pattern of three digits followed by a hyphen and two digits, you can use `regex_replace` to remove all the characters that match this pattern. If the resulting string is empty, that means the original string matched the pattern.

Here's an example of how you can implement this:

smarty
{* Assuming your string is stored in $myString variable *}



{$matched = $myString|regex_replace:'/^\d{3}-\d{2}$/':''}

{$isMatched = empty($matched)}



{* Now you can use $isMatched to determine if the string matched the pattern or not *}



{if $isMatched}

    <p>The string matches the pattern.</p>

{else}

    <p>The string does not match the pattern.</p>

{/if}

By using the `regex_replace` modifier and then checking if the resulting string is empty, you can determine whether the original string matched the specified pattern or not.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions or if there's anything else I can assist you with.

Helpful (9)

tabitha.padberg

July 02 2023 at 12:10 PM

Hey there,

I can definitely relate to your struggle when it comes to matching strings with regular expressions in PHP/Smarty. In my experience, I've found it helpful to use the `preg_match()` function within the Smarty template to accomplish this.

You can achieve string matching with regular expressions by creating a custom Smarty function. First, let's define the function in your PHP file:

php
function smarty_function_match($params, $template) {

    $pattern = $params['pattern'];

    $string = $params['string'];



    return preg_match($pattern, $string);

}

Next, in your Smarty template, you can call the custom function `match` and pass the regular expression pattern and the string you want to match. Here's an example:

smarty
{* Assuming you have the pattern and string stored in variables $pattern and $myString *}



{match pattern=$pattern string=$myString}

    {if $matchingResult}

        <p>The string matches the pattern.</p>

    {else}

        <p>The string does not match the pattern.</p>

    {/if}

{/match}

By creating this custom Smarty function, you can utilize the power of `preg_match()` to perform string matching using regular expressions. It offers you flexibility and control over the pattern and the string you want to match.

I hope this approach works for you. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Good luck with your project!

Helpful (13)

Check string matching with regular expression within PHP/Smarty-Template

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