extracting data between [ ] with preg_match php

Question

i try to extract only the number beetween the [] from my response textfile:

$res1 = "MESSAGE_RESOURCE_CREATED Resource [realestate] with id [75739528] has been created.";

i use this code

$regex = '/\[(.*)\]/s';
preg_match($regex, $res1, $matches_arr);
echo $matches_arr[1];

my result is:

realestate] with id [75742084

Can someone help me ?

Answer 1

Use this:

$regex = '~\[\K\d+~';
if (preg_match($regex, $res1 , $m)) {
    $thematch = $m[0];
    // matches 75739528
    } 

See the match in the Regex Demo .

Explanation

• \\[ matches the opening bracket
• The \\K tells the engine to drop what was matched so far from the final match it returns
• \\d+ matches one or more digits

Answer 2

Your regex would be,

(?<=\[)\d+(?=\])

DEMO

PHP code would be,

$regex = '~(?<=\[)\d+(?=\])~';
preg_match($regex, $res1, $matches_arr);
echo $matches_arr[0];

Output:

75739528

Answer 3

I assume you want to match what's inside the brackets, which means that you must match everything but a closing bracket:

/\[([^]]+)\]/g

DEMO HERE

Omit the g-flag in preg_match() :

$regex = '/\[([^]]+)\]/';
preg_match($regex, $res1, $matches_arr);
echo $matches_arr[1]; //will output realestate
echo $matches_arr[2]; //will output 75739528