Quick Q's Regarding Finding Tokens In Post & Post ID

Hey,

2 quick questions.

1.) What is the best native method to retrieve a post ID
outside of the loop? I have tried:
global $post
$post-ID; to no avail

2.) What is a native wordpress method to find a token in a post, such as trying to determine if the post has the following token:

[level=5]

within it?

I am using regex/explode php functions inside the loop as I need to maniuplate the post based on data in those tokens, but it is slowing down the wordpress site. I can’t find any native functions that allow me to pinpoint whether a post has a token and, how to use a regex type function to grab whatever is inside that token.

In short, if you had to sniff out if a wordpress post has the token:

[level=5]

AND determine the value after level=

what would you do? In regular php it’s easy for me, but trying to do these functions in wordpress without slowing down the site is difficult.

I can post code upon request.

TY.