php regex results in array to string conversion error

Question

I'm trying to learn regex in php. Why does this result in an array to string conversion error on the last line and how do I fix it?

$document = "{title}this is the title{/title}";
preg_match("/{title}(.*){\/title}/", $document, $match);

echo $match;

Also, for learning purposes, a useful tool for playing around with regex and how it will work with PHP is phpliveregex.com — Jeremy Harris
– Jeremy Harris, Commented Jul 21, 2016 at 20:11

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-21 20:12:05Z

1

See this demo:

$document = "{title}this is the title{/title}";
preg_match("/{title}(.*){\/title}/", $document, $match);
//echo $match; // PHP Notice:  Array to string conversion in /home/jxkaKh/prog.php on line 5
print_r($match);
// => Array(    [0] => {title}this is the title{/title}    [1] => this is the title)

See preg_match reference:

int preg_match ( string $pattern , string $subject [, array &$matches [, int $flags = 0 [, int $offset = 0 ]]] )
...
matches
If matches is provided, then it is filled with the results of search. $matches[0] will contain the text that matched the full pattern, $matches[1] will have the text that matched the first captured parenthesized subpattern, and so on.

And your pattern contains a capture group defined as (.*).

answered Jul 21, 2016 at 20:12

Wiktor Stribiżew

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