What best practices should be followed when using strpos and preg_match for searching in PHP?

When using strpos and preg_match for searching in PHP, it is important to handle cases where the search term may not be found in the string. To do this, you should always check the return value of strpos and preg_match to ensure it is not false before using the result in your code. This will prevent errors and unexpected behavior in your application. 

// Using strpos to search for a substring in a string
$haystack = "Hello, World!";
$needle = "World";

if (($pos = strpos($haystack, $needle)) !== false) {
    echo "Found '$needle' at position $pos";
} else {
    echo "Not found";
}

// Using preg_match to search for a pattern in a string
$string = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
$pattern = "/brown/";

if (preg_match($pattern, $string)) {
    echo "Pattern found";
} else {
    echo "Pattern not found";
}

Keywords

strpos preg_match searching PHP best practices

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