Question

I am trying parse the ESPN bottom line feed using RegEx but am coming up a bit short. Instead of it getting all of the NFL games it is only getting about half.

This is the data returned by ESPN.

 &nfl_s_delay=120&nfl_s_stamp=0909064837&nfl_s_left1=^Dallas 24   NY Giants 17 (FINAL)&nfl_s_right1_count=0&nfl_s_url1=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=320905019&nfl_s_left2=Indianapolis at Chicago (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right2_count=0&nfl_s_url2=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909003&nfl_s_left3=Philadelphia at Cleveland (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right3_count=0&nfl_s_url3=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909005&nfl_s_left4=St. Louis at Detroit (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right4_count=0&nfl_s_url4=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909008&nfl_s_left5=New England at Tennessee (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right5_count=0&nfl_s_url5=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909010&nfl_s_left6=Atlanta at Kansas City (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right6_count=0&nfl_s_url6=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909012&nfl_s_left7=Jacksonville at Minnesota (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right7_count=0&nfl_s_url7=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909016&nfl_s_left8=Washington at New Orleans (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right8_count=0&nfl_s_url8=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909018&nfl_s_left9=Buffalo at NY Jets (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right9_count=0&nfl_s_url9=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909020&nfl_s_left10=Miami at Houston (1:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right10_count=0&nfl_s_url10=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909034&nfl_s_left11=San Francisco at Green Bay (4:25 PM ET)&nfl_s_right11_count=0&nfl_s_url11=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909009&nfl_s_left12=Seattle at Arizona (4:25 PM ET)&nfl_s_right12_count=0&nfl_s_url12=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909022&nfl_s_left13=Carolina at Tampa Bay (4:25 PM ET)&nfl_s_right13_count=0&nfl_s_url13=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909027&nfl_s_left14=Pittsburgh at Denver (8:20 PM ET)&nfl_s_right14_count=0&nfl_s_url14=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320909007&nfl_s_left15=Cincinnati at Baltimore (7:00 PM ET)&nfl_s_right15_count=0&nfl_s_url15=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320910033&nfl_s_left16=San Diego at Oakland (10:15 PM ET)&nfl_s_right16_count=0&nfl_s_url16=http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=320910013&nfl_s_count=16&nfl_s_loaded=true

I am using two RegEx patterns, one to catch games that are completed/in progress:

preg_match_all('/nfl_s_left\d{1,2}=\^?(?P<awayteam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s+(?P<awayscore>\d+)\s+\^?(?P<hometeam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s+(?P<homescore>\d+)\s+(?P<time>\(.*?\))/', $content, $matches_in_progress, PREG_SET_ORDER);

And another to catch games that haven’t started yet:

preg_match_all('/nhl_s_left\d=\^?(?P<awayteam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s+(at)+\s+\^?(?P<hometeam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s(?P<time>\(.*?\))/', $content, $matches_upcoming, PREG_SET_ORDER);

Only 8 of the 16 games match, and I can’t figure out why. The matches for this week are Dallas at NY Giants, Philadelphia at Cleveland, New England at Tennessee, Atlanta at Kansas City, Jacksonville at Minnesota, Washington at New Orleans, and Buffalo at NY Jets.

I’d very much appreciate any help getting my RegEx to match all 16 games for this week and weeks to come.

Edit: Modified string to match, forgot that I strip %20 before applying RegEx to it.

Answer 1

Found the error. I did not have d{1,2} in the 2nd regex to match games 10-16. And I also didn’t have +(?:\.*) which forced St. Louis to be skipped over.

My new, working RegEx is:

/nfl_s_left\d{1,2}=\^?(?P<awayteam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\.*)+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s+(at)+\s+\^?(?P<hometeam>[a-zA-Z]+(?:\s+[a-zA-Z]+)*)\s(?P<time>\(.*?\))/