pattern matching - In regex, match either the end of the string or a specific character

Question

I have a string. The end is different, such as index.php?test=1&list=UL or index.php?list=UL&more=1. The one thing I'm looking for is &list=.

How can I match it, whether it's in the middle of the string or it's at the end? So far I've got [&|?]list=.*?([&|$]), but the ([&|$]) part doesn't actually work; I'm trying to use that to match either & or the end of the string, but the end of the string part doesn't work, so this pattern matches the second example but not the first.

Answer 1

Use:

/(&|?)list=.*?(&|$)/

Note that when you use a bracket expression, every character within it (with some exceptions) is going to be interpreted literally. In other words, [&|$] matches the characters &, |, and $.