phpregexpreg-match

Why is preg_match() returning two elements in the matches array?

I get 2 results with preg_match and I don't understand why. This is my code:

$pattern = "\[precom\]([A-Za-z]|\(|\)|[0-9]|\s|\*)*\[\/precom\]";
$data = "[precom](homme) Cher monsieur $name[/precom] ";
preg_match("/" . $pattern . "/", $data, $m);
print_r($m);

This is the result:

Array ( [0] => [precom](homme) Cher monsieur *name[/precom] [1] => e )

Could anyone help me to find the problem please?

Solution

  • from http://www.php.net//manual/en/function.preg-match.php

    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.