What is the difference between:
(.+?)
and
(.*?)
when I use it in my php preg_match regex?
What is the difference between: (.+?) and (.*?) when I use it in my
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What is the difference between:
(.+?)
and
(.*?)
when I use it in my php preg_match regex?
They are called quantifiers.
*0 or more of the preceding expression+1 or more of the preceding expressionPer default a quantifier is greedy, that means it matches as many characters as possible.
The
?after a quantifier changes the behaviour to make this quantifier “ungreedy”, means it will match as little as possible.Example greedy/ungreedy
For example on the string “abab“
a.*bwill match “abab” (preg_match_all will return one match, the “abab”)while
a.*?bwill match only the starting “ab” (preg_match_all will return two matches, “ab”)You can test your regexes online e.g. on Regexr, see the greedy example here