How do I match any character across multiple lines

Question

For example, this regex

(.*)<FooBar>

will match:

abcde<FooBar>

But how do I get it to match across multiple lines?

abcde
fghij<FooBar>

Answer 1

In JavaScript, use /[\S\s]*<Foobar>/. Source

Answer 2

Try this:

((.|\n)*)<FooBar>

It basically says "any character or a newline" repeated zero or more times.

Answer 3

generally . doesn't match newlines, so try ((.|\n)*)<foobar>

Answer 4

/(.*)<FooBar>/s

the s causes Dot (.) to match carriage returns

Answer 5

Note that (.|\n)* can be less efficient than (for example) [\s\S]* (if your language's regexes support such escapes) and than finding how to specify the modifier that makes . also match newlines. Or you can go with POSIXy alternatives like [[:space:][:^space:]]*.

Answer 6

Solution:

Use pattern modifier sU will get the desired matching in PHP.

example:

preg_match('/(.*)/sU',$content,$match);

Source:

http://dreamluverz.com/developers-tools/regex-match-all-including-new-line http://php.net/manual/en/reference.pcre.pattern.modifiers.php