REGEX非捕获组无法正常工作

Question

Data:

today 13/9 : Aristides, Aristeides, Aristeidis, Kornelios, Kornilios, Kornelia (source : www.namedays.gr)

Regex pattern:

/(?:today \d{1,2}\/\d{1,2}\s\:\s)([\w[:blank:],]+)(?:\s\(source\s\:\swww\.namedays\.gr\))/

Result:

Array
(
    [0] => today 13/9 : Aristides, Aristeides, Aristeidis, Kornelios, Kornilios, Kornelia (source : www.namedays.gr)
    [1] => Aristides, Aristeides, Aristeidis, Kornelios, Kornilios, Kornelia
)

My question is, why my pattern not return only with the names -> Array[1] and why including the non-capturing groups in my result Array[0] also?

I can not figure it out. I'm expecting only Array[1].

Answer 1

The 0th capturing group always contains the entire matched text. The first capturing group is always $1 (or a named).

If it's a problem, you can always unset() it.