Question

I want to grab a specific string only if a certain word is followed by a = sign.

Also, I want to get all the info after that = sign until a / is reached or the string ends.

Let’s take into example:

somestring.bla/test=123/ohboy/item/item=capture

I want to get item=capture but not item alone.

I was thinking about using lookaheads but I’m not sure it this is the way to go. I appreciate any help as I’m trying to grasp more and more about regular expressions.

Answer 1

If you want to capture item=capture, it is straightforward:

/item=[^\/]*/

If you want to also extract the value,

/item=([^\/]*)/

If you only want to match the value, then you need to use a look-behind.

/(?<=item=)[^\/]*/

EDIT: too many errors due to insomnia. Also, screw PHP and its failure to disregard separators in a character group as separators.