What are some common mistakes to avoid when using regex in PHP?

One common mistake when using regex in PHP is not escaping special characters properly. This can lead to unexpected behavior or errors in the regex pattern. To avoid this, always use the preg_quote() function to escape special characters before using them in a regex pattern. 

// Incorrect way to use regex without escaping special characters
$pattern = '/[a-z]+.*/';

// Correct way to escape special characters before using them in a regex pattern
$special_characters = '!@#$%^&*()';
$escaped_characters = preg_quote($special_characters, '/');
$pattern = '/[a-z]+' . $escaped_characters . '.*/';

Keywords

regex PHP common mistakes avoid error types

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