Trouble with ereg() and matching right bracket "]"

[Stefan Gangefors]

I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong when using ereg().

This is my regexp:

ereg("^[\]]$", "]");

and that does'n work, but this does:

ereg("^[\[]$", "[");


How come I can match left bracket but not the right?
am I using the esc char correctly?

please help me.

regards
/gange

[Michael Fuhr]

Re: Trouble with ereg() and matching right bracket "]"

gange@elak.org (Stefan Gangefors) writes:
[color=blue]
> I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong when using ereg().
>
> This is my regexp:
>
> ereg("^[\]]$", "]");
>
> and that does'n work, but this does:
>
> ereg("^[\[]$", "[");
>
> How come I can match left bracket but not the right?
> am I using the esc char correctly?[/color]

The "Regular Expression Functions (POSIX Extended)" chapter of the
PHP manual directs readers to the regex manual page in the PHP
source code. That manual page says:

"To include a literal `]' in the list, make it the first character
(following a possible `^'). To include a literal `-', make it the
first or last character, or the second end- point of a range. To
use a literal `-' as the first end- point of a range, enclose it
in `[.' and `.]' to make it a collating element (see below). With
the exception of these and some combinations using `[' (see next
paragraphs), all other special characters, including `\', lose their
special significance within a bracket expression."

--
Michael Fuhr

http://www.fuhr.org/~mfuhr/