Iterator

T-Regx uses vanilla PHP \Iterator with standard methods:

• current()
• key(): scalar
• next(): void
• rewind(): void
• valid(): bool

Iterator to array

Method match()->getIterator() returns an implementation of PHP \Iterator which you can be used with other \Iterator methods or within your own code, for example PHP methods iterator_to_array() and iterator_count().

T-Regx

$iterator = pattern('\w+')->match('Apples are cool')->getIterator();

return $iterator->current()->text(); // Iterator contains "Detail"

PHP

preg::match_all('/\w+/', 'Apples are cool', $matches);

$iterator = new ArrayIterator($matches[0]);

return $iterator->current(); // Iterator contains "string"

'Apples'

It is useful with methods that only accept \Iterator, and when an explicit iterator is needed. Using match()->getIterator() for methods that accept array is redundant :)

Also, please keep in mind that match() and other entities (such as match()->group(string|int) or match()->asInt()) are also iterable with foreach, making explicit usage of getIterator() even less likely.

T-Regx

foreach (pattern('\w+')->match('Apples are cool') as $match) {

$text = $match->text();

}

PHP

preg::match_all('/\w+/', 'Apples are cool', $matches);

foreach ($matches[0] as $text) {

$text;

}