How do I include variable between {} brackets in a php preg_match?

Question

So I currently have this php code

preg_match('/^([^.!?]*[\.!?]+){0,**3**}/', $text, $abstract);

Instead of the number 3 I would like it to be a variable example >

preg_match('/^([^.!?]*[\.!?]+){0,**$variable**}/', $text, $abstract);

Please help thanks a lot :)

Answer 1

Use double quotes instead of single quotes, and the variable will be substituted:

preg_match("/^([^.!?]*[\.!?]+){0,$variable}/", $text, $abstract);

Answer 2

In php, stuff between ' quotes are taken literally. so '$myVar' isn't the value of $myVar, it's literally the string "$myVar".

If you want a variable, you can concat the strings like '/^([^.!?]*[\.!?]+){0,' . $variable . '}/'

In other cases (not regexes) you can use " quotes instead.

edit; PHP string concat is ., not + good job, self >_>

Answer 3

Ok so the problem was fixed using php concatenation like when joining a string.... The problem when I tried this previously was that I was using + instead of . like other languages.

the code is now as follows

preg_match('/^([^.!?]*[\.!?]+){0,' . $var . '}/', $text, $abstract);