Accessing preg_split arrays ... ?

[dbeezzz]

So I'm trying to take out all the text in my html page between the elements of <!-- START_CAPTURE_1 --> and <!-- END_CAPTURE_1 -->

So far I'm using a preg_split.

$start = preg_split("/<!-- START_CAPTURE_1 -->/", $html_page_text, -1, PREG_SPLIT_OFFSET_CAPTURE);

$end = preg_split("/<!-- END_CAPTURE_1 -->/", $html_page_text, -1, PREG_SPLIT_OFFSET_CAPTURE);

... this gives me a series of arrays, which I'm trying to access and then do a simple index subtraction to find all the text between my two CAPTURE elements. Then I'll probably use stristr to parse out the text in the middle.

I'm having a problem with accessing the arrays within the $start and $end arrays though. The $start array is given back to me as

array(2) { 
      [0]=>  array(2) { 
            [0]=>  string(0) "" [1]=>  int(0) } 
            [1]=>  array(2) { 
                   [0]=>  string(56) "HTML_TEXT_THAT_I_WANT"                                      [1]=> int(34) 
   } 
}

... but I'm having a simple problem in accessing the second element of the second array ie. the value 34.
I've tried the obvious $start[1].Array[2] but no luck. What's the name of that second array ?

I guess I could try to access each element in turn with two for loops, but I'd rather not have to. Anyone any ideas ?

Also, is there an easier way to do this whole thing ? I can't find any php function that suits my needs exactly. Am I missing something ?

 

[dbeezzz]

Cool, I can access the array as $start[1][1].

I was also looking at thenewa2x's post below, and he's encountering a similar problem. I'll have a further look at his solution and post back with any problems.

I'm not really sure which method would be more efficient. I know regex's are hard on the system resources. I'm assuming this method would be the faster of the two, since the regex would be less complicated than doing a full regex to search through the html sheet for all the values fitting an exact regex. My assumptions may be incorrect though.

Any thoughts ?

 

[jpadie]

there may be easier ways. can the tags be nested? and is it always the same tag pair?

i think i posted a non-regex solution for nested tags a few weeks ago.