spliting URLs after a domain

[ChilliBoy]

Hi,

I need to extract the first part of a URL from a varaible and would like your opinion on the best option.

the end result variable needs to be in the following format:

$EndVariable = sitename.domain;

and the start URL could be anything such as:

http://www.sitename.domain/home.php?v=10&x=2

Getting rid of everything before the "sitename" (ie http:// and www.) is easily done by str_replace ("http://", "", $URL); etc
but the problem comes with getting rid of everything after the domain (which could be .com, .net, .co.uk, .uk.com etc etc).

I was considering (after removing http://, www. etc from the $URL) using

$URL = explode("/", $URL);
$URL = explode("?", $URL[0]);
$EndVariable = $URL[0];

to get rid of everything after the domain, but I'm concerned that there may be URL's that contain other charactors directly after the domain.

Is the above a decent option? And if so what other charactors occasionally occur straight after the domain?

I was thinking about using a regex, however I can't forsee any advantage over the above, and you still have the same "where to split problem".

Cheers for the help

[GoD]

its http:// there are 2 forward slashes

[GoD]

id suggest splitting at the

$URL = explode("w", $URL);

or something

[freddydoesphp]

how about

$URL = explode(".", $URL); 
$newvar = $URL[1].".".$URL[2]; 

[ChilliBoy]

Cheers Freddie,

But the problem with exploding the "." is that you run into problems with names such as http://uk.site.com, http://www.site.co.uk etc etc, as various numbers of "." may occur.

I think my way is 99.5% foolproof and will only break if you get odd charactors straight after the domain or obscure "www." (eg www2 etc):

$URL = str_replace("http://", "", $URL);
$URL = str_replace("https://", "", $URL);
$URL = str_replace("ftp://", "", $URL);
$URL = str_replace("www.", "", $URL);
$URL = str_replace("www1.", "", $URL);
$URL = explode("/", $URL);
$URL = explode("?", $URL[0]);
$EndVariable = $URL[0];

To make it more foolproof can anyone suggest to me any charactors which occasionally occur straight after a domain (eg /, ?) or alternatives used besides www. of http:// or than those used.

Cheers

[freddydoesphp]

Here you go

    function get_servername($url) {
        $str = eregi("(http|https|mailto|ftp)://(.*)/",$url, $args);
        $tmp = explode(".", $args[2]);
        if (eregi("www", $tmp[0])) array_shift($tmp);
        return implode(".", $tmp);
        }

    $url = "ftp://www2.dasfhsdjkf.com.uk/ehherftwejh";
    print get_servername($url); 

[freddydoesphp]

function get_servername($url) {
        $str = eregi("(http|https|mailto|ftp)://([^/]*)",$url, $args);
        $tmp = explode(".", $args[2]);
        if (eregi("www", $tmp[0])) array_shift($tmp);
        return implode(".", $tmp);
        }

    $url = "ftp://www2.dasfhsdjkf.com.uk/ehherftwejh";
    print get_servername($url); 

[ChilliBoy]

Cheers Freddie,

The use of regex, is still a little over my head as I haven't used it much - Although I can kind of follow you.

[freddydoesphp]

It is pretty simple. It means match anything after a http:// or ftp:// or mailto:// or https:// and beofre a slash.

Then take that match and store it in $args so since it was the second match we were looking for then it is in $args[2]

So now explode that by a .

Now look for www in the first element of the exploded array if is there then shift that element off the array and implode the array back together using .