Match all function names

[Fmdpa]

I'm working on a syntax highlighter. I've got almost everything working except for the function names getting highlighted.

preg_replace('/\b([a-z0-9_].*?)(?=( )?\()/i', '<span class="function_name">$1</span>', $txt);

It works for stand-alone functions such as...

{myfunction} ();

But once you add anything before it, that is matched as well:

{echo myFunction}();

What's wrong with my RegEx?P.S. the curly braces represent the matched area.

[ShadowMage]

Try removing the dot in this section:([a-z0-9_].*?)so you have:([a-z0-9_]*?)The dot matches any character including whitespace.

[Fmdpa]

Thanks! That fixed it. Often, when writing regular expressions, I get stuck in a rut thinking one particular thing is wrong. In this case, I was thinking something was wrong with the lookahead/lookbehind assertions, when it really was just a simple little metacharacter causing the problems.