regex - How to find a whole word in a string in PHP without accidental matches? -

parsing array of string commands, need know if string contains specific keyword.

sounds simple know, problem comes when command keyword may part of word.

ex:

checksound sound check 

so need check if current line has checksound, sound, or check command.

if use like:

if(stristr($line,'sound') == true) 

then may find checksound before sound , not parse correctly.

question:

is there way find occurrence of whole word sound , ignore occurrence sound if found part of word checksound?

i sure missing simple here.

you can use regular expression achive goal.

example #2 documentation of preg_match:

/* \b in pattern indicates word boundary, distinct  * word "web" matched, , not word partial "webbing" or "cobweb" */  if (preg_match("/\bweb\b/i", "php web scripting language of choice.")) {      echo "a match found.";  } else {      echo "a match not found.";  } 

note above example uses i modifier, makes search "web" case insensitive.