find multiple word by specific order

Question

How can I find if my string contain multiple word by specific order for example:

$str="(can be any more words here). This is my search string. (can be any more word here).";
$words1 = array("is", "search");
$words2 = array("search", "is");

$res1 = findMe($str, $words1);
$res2 = findMe($str, $words2);

I need $res1 will be true and $res2 will be false. I am trying preg_match_all but it always return true.

NOTE: I am work with hebrew characters.

Answer 1

Here is a way to go:

$str="(can be any more words here). This is my search string. (can be any more word here).";
$words1 = array("is", "search");
$words2 = array("search", "is");

echo findMe($str, $words1), "\n";
echo findMe($str, $words2), "\n";

function findMe($str, $words) {
    $pat = '/\b'.implode($words, '\b.*?\b') .'\b/';
    return preg_match($pat, $str);
}

output:

1
0

Answer 2

Not too nice option, but as a quick fix go:

$str="(can any more words here). This is my search string. (can be any more word here)."; 
$words1 = array("be", "is", "search");
$words2 = array("search", "is");
$words3 = array("is", "search");

$res1 = findMe($str, $words1);
$res2 = findMe($str, $words2);
$res3 = findMe($str, $words3);

var_dump($res1);
var_dump($res2);
var_dump($res3);

function findMe($str, $words){
    $prevs = 0;
    foreach($words as $word){
        $n = strpos($str, $word);
        if($n!==false&&$prevs<=$n)
            $prevs = $n;
        else
            return false;
    }

    return true;
}

Demo

Answer 3

Explanation :

The function takes an array and your actual string as input. Using a foreach the position of the matched keywords are recorded in an array. After the end of the loop , we have another array which takes the value of this array(positions) and does a sort. Now the validity and invalidity check depends on whether if the sorted values of array matches with the values that was initially got from the loop. If both are same , then we raise a VALID flag , if not an INVALID flag.

<?php

$str="(can be any more words here). This is my search string. (can be any more word here).";
$words1 = array("is", "search");
$words2 = array("search", "is");


function findMe($arr,$str)
{
    $new_arr = array_map(function ($v) use ($str){ return mb_strpos($str,$v);},$arr);
    $sorted  = array_values($new_arr);
    sort($sorted,SORT_ASC);
    return ($new_arr === $sorted)? "VALID" : "INVALID";
}

echo findMe($words1,$str); //prints VALID
echo findMe($words2,$str); //prints INVALID

Working Demo