PHP: How do I get the string indexes of a preg_match_all?

Question

let\'s say I have two regexp\'s,

/eat (apple|pear)/
/I like/

and text

\"I like to eat apples on a rainy day, but on sunny          


        

Answer 1

You can try PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE flag for preg_match():

$subject="I like to eat apples on a rainy day, but on sunny days, I like to eat pears.";
$pattern = '/eat (apple|pear)/';
preg_match($pattern, $subject, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE );
print_r($matches);

Output

$ php test.php
Array
(
    [0] => Array
        (
            [0] => eat apple
            [1] => 10
        )

    [1] => Array
        (
            [0] => apple
            [1] => 14
        )

)