Question

I am trying to parse the HTTP request with the following code:

$request="GET /index.html HTTP/1.1";
$methods="GET|HEAD|TRACE|OPTIONS";
$pattern="/(^".$methods.")\s+(\S+)\s+(HTTP)/";
list($method,$uri,$http)=preg_split($pattern,$request);
print $method.$uri.$http;

Print does not return anything. I tried different modifications,but wasn’t able to. I think the problem is with the regex. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Instead of preg_split(), you may want to use preg_match(), and move the ^ outside the parens.

$request="GET /index.html HTTP/1.1";
$methods="GET|HEAD|TRACE|OPTIONS";
$pattern="/^(".$methods.")\s+(\S+)\s+(HTTP)/";
//-------^^^^

$matches = array();
preg_match($pattern, $request, $matches);
print_r($matches);

// To get it back to the form you wanted...
array_shift($matches);
list($method, $uri, $http) = $matches;