Question

I have a string which is pulled from iCal, which outputs the description. I want to take the description each time and create an array with the objects I need. They always follow the same pattern.

For example I have:

Description: Trip status: Confirmed\n \n FLIGHT INFORMATION: \n \n United Airlines UA 485: \n \n \n From: Newark Liberty International (New York, USA) - TerminalC at Fri, Sep 28, 2012 16:34 (local time) \n To: Denver International (Denver, USA) at Fri, Sep 28, 2012 18:47 (local time) \n Cabin: Economy Restricted\n Duration: 04:13\n Stop(s): 0\n Aircraft: Boeing 757-200\n

and then

Description: Trip status: Confirmed\n \n FLIGHT INFORMATION: \n \n Air Canada AC 1072: \n \n \n From: Denver International (Denver, USA) at Sat, Sep 29, 2012 10:55 (local time) \n To: P Trudeau International (Montreal, Canada) at Sat, Sep 29, 2012 16:29 (local time) \n Cabin: Economy Restricted\n Duration: 03:34\n Stop(s): 0\n Aircraft: Airbus Industrie A319\n

As you can see the different outputs follow the same structure, so in an ideal world I would want:

$itinery[0]: Confirmed
$itinery[1]: United Airlines UA 485
$itinery[2]: Newark Liberty International (New York, USA)

Any guidance as ever is appreciated.

Thanks.

Answer 1

A more specific regex :

Description:\s*Trip\s+status:\s+(\w+)\s*FLIGHT\s+INFORMATION:\s*([^:]+):\s*From:\s*([\w\d_,\s-()]+)\s+at\s+(?:Sun|Mon|Tue|Wed|Thu|Fri|Sat),

Following assumptions are made :

• The “status” can contain only letters.
• The “flight information” is supposed to end with a :
• The “from” can contain only letters, numbers, one of those characters _,-() or blank characters. The “from” is immediately followed by this sequence : ” at XXX” where XXX is a day (ie Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri or Sat).

Tips :
If status belongs to a closed list then replace (\w+) with (?:Confirmed|Cancelled|Delayed) in the regex. Add other statuses if necessary.