hay there 
How can i check for say 2 or more words in a string…
Now I know this checks for 2 words on a “OR” basis
[php]
if(preg_match("/$findthis|$this/i", $text_to_search))
{
//do something
}
[/php]
So this ill check to see if the [php]$text_to_search[/php] contains either[php] $findthis [/php] or [php]$this[/php]
but i need it to check with the “and” operator - so for example…
search [php]$text_to_search[/php] for [php]$findthis[/php] and $this
how can i do this?
many thanks 
Johnd123,
Here’s the correct way to do it, you need to make sure you preg_quote all your search terms or it will throw off the preg_match and you will get invalid results on some search queries.
[php]function matchWords($findtheseItems , $text_to_search)
{
$items = explode(" ", $findtheseItems);
foreach ($items as $item)
{
if (preg_match('/'. preg_quote($item) .'/i',$text_to_search) == false)
{
return false;
}
}
return true;
}[/php]
Ahhh man thanks so much for helping
this is perfect!
bless you sir!
Maybe more correct since you don’t need regex:
[php]if(stripos($text_to_search, $findthis) !== false && stripos($text_to_search, $findthis2) !== false)[/php]
Or you could add it in a little function.
cheers but i dont think this will help my needs as the number of words will depend on user submitted… like a search engine…
So far the best method that works well is this
[php]
function SplitQuery($this_query)
{
$all_words = explode(" “, $this_query); // Get each word from query
foreach($all_words as $val => $word) // Loop through each word
{
$toreturn = $toreturn . $word.”.+."; // Add ‘.+.’ for preg_match
}
$preg_stuff = trim($toreturn, “.+.”); // trim of the end
return $preg_stuff; //Return all words example: word1.+.word2.+.word3
}
[/php]
then
[php]
if(preg_match("/".SplitQuery($query)."/i", $content_to_search)) // ----- /each.+.word.+.entered/i
{
//do something
}
[/php]
thanks for helping
If you put @AbraCadaver solution in a function it will look like this, you’ll need to run tests to see which is faster for your use.
[php]function matchWords($findtheseItems, $text_to_search)
{
$items = explode(" ", $findtheseItems);
foreach ($items as $item)
{
if(stripos($text_to_search, $item) == false)
{
return false;
}
}
return true;
}[/php]
=== false
groovy guys ill give them a baz
thanks so much for help… much appreciated
if(preg_match("/".SplitQuery($query)."/i", $content_to_search)) // ----- /each.+.word.+.entered/i { //do something }
You can’t do that without the preg_quote, because if your search term contains and of these characters you won’t get back good results.
. \ + * ? [ ^ ] $ ( ) { } = ! < > | : -Thanks for the correction @AbraCadaver
Below is your best option if you don’t need to regex something it will be faster.
[php]function matchWords($findtheseItems, $text_to_search)
{
$items = explode(" ", $findtheseItems);
foreach ($items as $item)
{
if(stripos($text_to_search, $item) === false)
{
return false;
}
}
return true;
}[/php]
this also works well, nice to have so many different ways of doin this… i guess its just down to speed now but i have no idea which is fast as they all work very well - i think i read that stripos was faster…
in need to read up on stripos tbh lol
ahh i see that would make sense - ill use that one then
cheers again guys