simplify this using regex?

[Xiosen]

Hello,

I have this code which basically grabs the date after several variations of the text last updated: so I can store it into mysql date format in the DB.

The problem is its not very effecient when it comes to the dates since different websites have them formatted differently.

Here is the current code:

            $upos = strpos($whois['data'], "updated date:");
            if (!($upos === false)) {
                $upddate = substr($whois['data'], $upos+14, 11);
            } else {
                $upos2 = strpos($whois['data'], "record last updated on");
                if (!($upos2 === false)) {
                    $upddate = substr($whois['data'], $upos2+24, 11);
                } else {
                    $upos3 = strpos($whois['data'], "last updated on:");
                    if (!($upos3 === false)) {
                        $upddate = substr($whois['data'], $upos3+16, 12);
                    } else {
                        $upos4 = strpos($whois['data'], "last updated on");
                        if (!($upos4 === false)) {
                            $upddate = substr($whois['data'], $upos4+16, 11);
                        } else {
                            $upddate = "";
                        }
                    }
                }
            } 

90% of this is repitition. Maybe I could run it thru 4 regex instead of this way because I have the following problems:

The dates are all formatted differently so the 11 characters doesnt always catch all the dates and cuts some info off. I run them thru strtotime but that doesnt always work because the date is cut off.

Sometimes the dates are 12-jan-2006 or sat, jan 12, 2006 or jan 12, 2006 so on and so forth.

Is how I am doing this the best way or would using multiple regex be better for this, if it is can you show me an example of one that would work?

[bokehman]

What exactly are you trying to do?

[Xiosen]

Pull out the date out of here:

Last Update: 12-jan-2006
Record Last updated on sat, jan 12, 2006
Last updated on jan 12, 2006
Updated date: 12-jan-2006

These are just examples but basically its these 4 phrases followed by a date of some kind, its that date that I want.

[Xiosen]

Anybody have any ideas or suggestoins on this?

[bokehman]

The following works for your examples:

$timestamp = strtotime(
    preg_replace(
        '/^.*(\d?\d-[a-z]{3}-\d{4}|[a-z]{3} \d?\d, \d{4}).*$/is',
        '$1',
        $whois['data']        
    )
); 

[Xiosen]

It is very very close but these are some of the results I have came up with:

Updated date: 12-jan-2006 :: 2-jan-2006

This one is missing the 1 in front of the 12

Last Update: 12-jan-2006 :: 2-jan-2006

This one is also missing the one

I am not sure if this is searching for just a date but if it is I need it to include the last updated: and different forms of that because there are many dates on the page I am looking for only the one that deals with the updates.

[aamonkey]

this will work for the date formats you posted:

   $pattern = '#update.*?((?:\d{1,2}-.*?-\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3},\s+.*?\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3}\s+\d{1,2},\s+\d{4}))#i';
   
   preg_match_all($pattern, $whois['data'], $matches);
   // matches will be in the $matches[1] array 

[Xiosen]

Ok I got it this far but i am going to need help finishing it:

$test[] = "asdfasdfasdfadsasdf last update: 12-jan-2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "fsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfa record last updated on sat, jan 12, 2006 vavsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "dafasdfasdfadf last updated on jan 12, 2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "<table><tr><td>Other Junk 15-jan-2006</td><td>Updated date: 12-jan-2006 </td></tr></table>";
$test[] = "<TR><TD width='30%' valign='top'>Creation Date:</TD><TD width='70%'>Sep 18 2004 </TD></TR>";

foreach($test as $searchstr)
{
    $search = array ('~updated date: (.*?)~si',
                     '~last updated on (.*?)~si',
                     '~last update: (.*?)~si',
                     '~Creation Date:</TD><TD width=\'70%\'>(.*?)~si');

    $replace = '$1';

    $text = preg_replace($search, $replace, $searchstr);

    echo "Search: ".htmlentities($searchstr)."<br />Result: ";
    print_r(htmlentities($text));
    echo "<br /><br />";
} 

The problems with this is:

It is only removing the words in the array its not removing everything including those words except the date.

I need to keep 12 characters involved in the (.*?) starting from that location on.

So the end result should be the date in watever format it is in every time.

[Xiosen]

Thank you aamonkey let me test that out real quick with the example I posted.

[Xiosen]

Awsome I tried this code:

$test[] = "asdfasdfasdfadsasdf last update: 12-jan-2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "fsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfa record last updated on sat, jan 12, 2006 vavsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "dafasdfasdfadf last updated on jan 12, 2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf";
$test[] = "<table><tr><td>Other Junk 15-jan-2006</td><td>Updated date: 12-jan-2006 </td></tr></table>";
$test[] = "<TR><TD width='30%' valign='top'>Updated Date:</TD><TD width='70%'>Sep 18 2004 </TD></TR>";


$pattern = '#update.*?((?:\d{1,2}-.*?-\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3},\s+.*?\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3}\s+\d{1,2},\s+\d{4}))#i';

foreach($test as $searchstr)
{

    preg_match_all($pattern, $searchstr, $matches);
    // matches will be in the $matches[1] array

    echo "Search: ".htmlentities($searchstr)."<br />Result: ";
    print_r($matches[1]);
    echo "<br /><br />";

} 

and the output:

Search: asdfasdfasdfadsasdf last update: 12-jan-2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf
Result: Array ( [0] => 12-jan-2006 ) 

Search: fsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfa record last updated on sat, jan 12, 2006 vavsdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf
Result: Array ( [0] => sat, jan 12, 2006 ) 

Search: dafasdfasdfadf last updated on jan 12, 2006 asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf
Result: Array ( [0] => jan 12, 2006 ) 

Search: <table><tr><td>Other Junk 15-jan-2006</td><td>Updated date: 12-jan-2006 </td></tr></table>
Result: Array ( [0] => 12-jan-2006 ) 

Search: <TR><TD width='30%' valign='top'>Updated Date:</TD><TD width='70%'>Sep 18 2004 </TD></TR>
Result: Array ( )

Would it be possible to get it to work with the last one as well?

[aamonkey]

sure, just change the pattern to this:

   $pattern = '#update.*?((?:\d{1,2}-.*?-\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3},?\s+.*?\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3}\s+\d{1,2},\s+\d{4}))#i'; 

just a warning: depending on how much stuff is between the word "update" and the actual date, this expression may or may not work....it kind of assumes that there will be very little between them.

[Xiosen]

I have never seen more then 50 - 60 characters between them, should that be ok?

That pattern worked perfectly by the way thank you so much!

[bokehman]

because there are many dates on the page I am looking for only the one that deals with the updates.

Why didn't you say that in the first place instead of wasting my time.

[Xiosen]

Because I dont understand regex or whats needed for it. You asked me and I replied with 4 examples, I said theres 4 phrases and its that date AFTER it that I want. I never said that I wanted every date.

I appreciate you taking the time, im sorry that we had a misunderstanding but I cant pretend its what I wanted when it will not work.

[DMacedo]

If you already made the jump to PHP 5 you can use strptime() which will give you an array you can use however you wish

[Xiosen]

I wish I had made the jump lol, sounds alot better.

aamonkey or someone else reading this thread I one more modification it looks like for example look at the current example:

Search: asdkflaskdfasldflk last updated on sept 18 2008 asdfjaklsdfjalk;sfd
Result: Array ( [0] => ept 18 2008 ) 

Search: kadlkfajlkdfjlds last updated on september 17, 2008 asdfaksjdflaskd
Result: Array ( [0] => ber 17, 2008 )

It looks like it keeps only 3 characters is there some way I can modify it to keep the whole month (word) in there? or could I convert the long month to the short abbreviation before running the regex?

I guess whats the best way to detect the whole month whether its written in full or abbreviated.

[DMacedo]

Check the PEAR PHP_Compat to see if it's already there...

[Xiosen]

Sorry, but we didn't find anything that matches "strptime"

[aamonkey]

$pattern = '#update.*?((?:\d{1,2}-.+?-\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3,},?\s+.*?\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3,}\s+\d{1,2},\s+\d{4}))#i';

[Xiosen]

Your code worked perfect for that last part!!

Now I got a new one problem (I think its the last haha), what do I do if its already in YYYY-MM-DD format such as:

Search: asdfaksdfjlaskdf updates: 2008-07-27 00:04:28 alsdjfalksdjflaksjfdkasdf
Result: Array ( )

Thanks again everyone for your contribution in this thread.

EDIT: Oops aamonkey I didnt receive a notification of your last post let me try that out!! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!

[aamonkey]

do you want the HH:MM:SS to be grabbed, too?

[Xiosen]

No thank you just the date if you could! Your a lifesaver!

[aamonkey]

$pattern = '#update.*?((?:\d{1,2}-.+?-\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3,},?\s+.*?\d{4})|(?:[a-z]{3,}\s+\d{1,2},\s+\d{4})|(?:\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}))#i';

[Xiosen]

awsome! I owe ya big time! Your like a regex god.