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prepare_regex_search_string()

Description

Escape and process a string from ResourceSpace search syntax to regex syntax
Wildcards are replaced with '.?' - any character 0 or more times
Multiple keyword matches are split into an OR group
Word boundaries are added to avoid unintended wildcards.

Parameters

ColumnTypeDefaultDescription
$keyword: string
'.*?'
$keyword;
$keyword string Keyword string without any field names or special search strings

Return

string Processed string ready for RLIKE searches

Location

include/search_functions.php lines 3316 to 3332

Definition

 
function prepare_regex_search_string(string $keyword): string
{
    $keyword = preg_quote($keyword);
    $keyword = str_replace('\*', '.*?', $keyword);
    $keywords = explode(";", $keyword);
    if (count($keywords) > 1) {
        $keyword = '(' . implode("|", $keywords) . ')';
    }
    if (preg_match('/\w/', $keyword) === 0) {
        // Use lookaheads/lookbehinds for boundary-like behavior when the keyword consists of non-word characters (e.g. ,, &, -)
        // because \b only works for transitions between word characters (letters, digits, _) and non-word characters.
        $keyword = "(?<!\w)" . $keyword . "(?!\w)";
    } else {
        $keyword = "\\b" . $keyword . "\\b";
    }
    return $keyword;
}

This article was last updated 20th November 2025 20:35 Europe/London time based on the source file dated 10th November 2025 12:10 Europe/London time.