Basic RegEx Qeustion

[JREAM]

Im trying to strip the whitespace from the front and back of an {,

This RegEx is brain boggling, here's wjat I have:

/[\s]"{"[\s]/

Here's what i understand kind of
\s for any space, tab, etc..
"{" for the literal character
/ and / to start the regex area,
[] for little boxes of there own (not needed?)

(ps: no need for a long explanation I dont know If Ill understand it well anywayS)

[logic_earth]

/\s*\{\s*/
maybe...

[JREAM]

that is rite, thank you

I got some spacing before the bracket is that a known reason

<?php

$string = 'item {   here;';

$pattern = '/s*\{\s*/';
$replacement = '${1}{$2';

$newstring = preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $string);

?>

<textarea><?php echo $string; ?></textarea>
<textarea><?php echo $newstring; ?></textarea>

$pattern = '/.s*\{\s*/';

Okay the Period seems to work there (unless its two spaces or more)


I think I need to use a + (The + (plus) matches the previous character 1 or more times, for example, tre+ will find tree and tread but not trough.)

[decowski]

$pattern = '/\s+(?={)|(?<={)\s+/';
$replacement = ''; 

EDIT: Disregard this. Unless you want to make your life complicated

[logic_earth]

Nothing too complicated required.

$sA = 'item     {           here;';
$sB = preg_replace( '/\s*\{\s*/', '{', $sA );

var_dump( $sA, $sB ); 

[JREAM]

Hey that works, Ill try to understand, well maybe not.. haha
Thanks :P


\s+ Space and any amount before it
(?={) Match This and ignore maybe,
| string the left and right together
{?={) Do the same thing above,
\s+ Space any amount after

[logic_earth]

(?=...) & (?<=...) is Look Around.

[decowski]

Yes, you understand it correctly except the pipe means or. Solution suggested by logic_earth is simpler and works just as well (even better in terms of performance), though.

I had a subconcious urge to overcomplicate things at the time of writing my regex

[JREAM]

Okay thanks for your time guys, I have a lot to practice to understand this, thats a great webiste too,
Ah I didnt think | was or, thought it had to be || XD

[decowski]

thats a great webiste too,

Best one around.

Ah I didnt think | was or, thought it had to be || XD

Not in regexes.