use strict;
my $str = '\'key1\', \'key2\'';
my $regex = qr/\s* # white spaces
########################## KEYS START ##########################
(?: # We\'ll use this to make keys optional
(?P<keys> # named group: keys
\d+ # match digits
| # or
"(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"
| # or
\'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p
| # or
\$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]
) # close group: keys
########################## KEYS END ##########################
\s* # white spaces
=> # match =>
)? # make keys optional
\s* # white spaces
########################## VALUES START ##########################
(?P<values> # named group: values
\d+ # match digits
| # or
"(?(?=\\\\")..|[^"])*" # match string between "", works even 4 escaped ones "hello \" world"
| # or
\'(?(?=\\\\\')..|[^\'])*\' # match string between \'\', same as above :p
| # or
\$\w+(?:\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\])* # match variables $_POST, $var, $var["foo"], $var["foo"]["bar"], $foo[$bar["fail"]]
| # or
array\s*\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\) # match an array()
| # or
\[(?:[^[\]]|(?R))*\] # match an array, new PHP array syntax: [1, 3, 5] is the same as array(1,3,5)
| # or
(?:function\s+)?\w+\s* # match functions: helloWorld, function name
(?:\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\)) # match function parameters (wut), (), (array(1,2,4))
(?:(?:\s*use\s*\((?:[^()]|(?R))*\)\s*)? # match use(&$var), use($foo, $bar) (optionally)
\{(?:[^{}]|(?R))*\} # match { whatever}
)?;? # match ; (optionally)
) # close group: values
########################## VALUES END ##########################
\s* # white spaces/xsip;
if ( $str =~ /$regex/g ) {
print "Whole match is ${^MATCH} and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[0] and \$+[0]\n";
# print "Capture Group 1 is $1 and its start/end positions can be obtained via \$-[1] and \$+[1]\n";
# print "Capture Group 2 is $2 ... and so on\n";
}
# ${^POSTMATCH} and ${^PREMATCH} are also available with the use of '/p'
# Named capture groups can be called via $+{name}
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Perl, please visit: http://perldoc.perl.org/perlre.html