PHP - parsing CSV into array

Question

I'm facing a problem when I'm trying to parse string containing FSM defined as:

{{states},{symbols}, {transitions}, starting_symbol, {set of finishing states}}

example:

{{start, mid, end}, {'a', 'b'}, { start 'a' -> end}, start, {end}}

As opposed to writing a parser here, I would like to parse this via regular expressions.

My problem lies in understanding regex matching groups and how to break string such as "start, mid, end" into array [ "start", "mid", "end" ] (assuming delimiter ,).

I understand that using builtin csv functions might be better idea, but example is bit more complex (albeit for simplicity sake lets assume that each member of set can be matched by \w.

Any help would be appreciated.

That doesn't look like a csv at all

Mark Baker
– Mark Baker

2015-03-18 15:18:37 +00:00
Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 15:18 — Mark Baker
– Mark Baker, Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 15:18
to clarify, I only want to parse "start, mid, end" part.

Tomas Pruzina
– Tomas Pruzina

2015-03-18 15:29:59 +00:00
Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 15:29 — Tomas Pruzina
– Tomas Pruzina, Commented Mar 18, 2015 at 15:29

mrun · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-18 15:55:59Z

0

Assuming I understood correctly what you need, this should do the trick:

<?php

$string = "{{start, mid, end}, {'a', 'b'}, { start 'a' -> end}, start, {end}}";

preg_match( "#\{\{(.*?)\}#", $string, $matches );

$parts = split(',', $matches[1] );

echo '<pre>';
print_r( $parts );
echo '</pre>';

answered Mar 18, 2015 at 15:55

mrun

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