Hello Everybody! I have a regex problem that I can't figure out. How can I get the first and last names of all people that has these letter tay in their name(s) using php-RegEX.

Here is a sample of my PhoneBook setup:
Dori Hanson:733-555-9501:25 E. Pine, Chicago, IL 60660
Evon Taylor:312-555-0706:29 W. Troy, Chicago, IL 60626
Lucy Bintay:312-555-2295:18 E. Lunt, Chicago, IL 60639

This is only one of many sequence I tried. This will print the entire line and not just the full name only which is what I am trying to do:

<?php
$fhandle=fopen("MyPhoneBook.txt", "r");
    while( ! feof($fhandle))  {
        $myBook= fgets($fhandle);
 
        if (preg_match("/(tay)/i", $myBook))
        {
            echo "$myBook<br>";
    }
}
fclose($fhandle);
?>

Thanks in advance

You can accomplish this without a regex:

PHP Code:

$lines = file('MyPhoneBook.txt'); /*file reads an entire file into an array of lines*/

$matches = array();

foreach($lines as $line)
{
     $name = substr( $line, 0, strpos($line, ':') ); /*get the portion of the line before the colon*/
     if(stripos($name, 'tay') !== false)
          $matches[] = $name;
}

print_r($matches); 


The above should output:

Array
(
    [0] => Evon Taylor
    [1] => Lucy Bintay
)

Personally I don't think there is any particular advantage to using a regex over the solution above.

Thanks NullPointer, but it's all about filling my RegEX file with examples mainly for future reference and for building my first PhoneBook. I been reading everything I could find and it's not as easy as they say. I'm sure you been there, done that and know what I mean. Once you start getting to know something you don't just drop it. Would you know how to do this using php - regular expression? If not, Thanks a ton anyway

The code just replace actually only allow Reg-EX to do half of the job. The whole string was still beings used but un-seen. I need to know how to do it completely using reg-EX the right way. See my first thread for full explanation.

chrishirst just made me realize that both of our expressions does the same thing and that is not the desired results. I thought I had it, I'm going to try again tonight.

<?php
$fhandle=fopen("MyPhoneBook.txt", "r");
    while( ! feof($fhandle))  {
        $myBook= fgets($fhandle);

		if (preg_match("/(tay)/i", $myBook))
		{
			echo "$myBook<br>";
	}
}
fclose($fhandle);
?>

<?php
$fhandle=fopen("MyPhoneBook.txt", "r");
    while( ! feof($fhandle))  {
        $myBook= fgets($fhandle);

		if (preg_match("/.*tay.*/", $myBook))
		{
			echo "$myBook<br>";
	}
}
fclose($fhandle);
?>

.*tay.* would be the pattern to match the entire line where a search of 'tay' was found.