Regular expression - variable

Question

I need to add a piece of code in each page in a directory with some info that is specific to that directory.  There are several hundred directories and about 10,000 pages.  My plan was to search and replace all files in each directory one at a time.  Then I remembered RegEx and thought there may be a better solution.
The code I want to build off of looks like this:
<?php
setcookie("capital", "boston", time()[phone], "/");
?>
The only variable part is the the city name (i.e. boston could be denver, tampa, miami, etc.).  This bit of text will always be a word with only letters and no spaces.I'd like to search for this code, using regular expressions to capture the variable (i.e "boston"), then replace it with the exact same code, plus add another snippet using the stored variable.
The end result should look like this:
<?php
setcookie("capital", "boston", time()[phone], "/");
$urlcookievariable = "boston";
?>
My RegEx attempt looks like this:
SEARCH:
<?php
setcookie("capital", "[^"]*", time()[phone], "/");
?>
REPLACE:
<?php
setcookie("capital", "[^"]*", time()[phone], "/");
$urlcookievariable = "$1";
?>
However, it's not seeming to find the original line of code.  Since my search is working, my replace is obviously not working either.  However, with some testing on a more simple line of regex, that variable is not pasting as a variable.  It's just putting the literal symbol:  dollar sign and #1....$1, not "boston"
thanks in advance for a point in the right direction

Answer 1

The problem with your regex is that the original code includes metacharacters that have special meaning in a regular expression. Use this as the search value:
(setcookie\("capital", ("[^"]+"), time\(\)\[phone], "\/"\);)
Use this as the Replace value:
$1\n$urlcookievariable = $2;