I'm trying to write a script but keep getting stuck.
I have a variable $message. I want to parse it. So that everything contained between * and * could be a different color. For example:
This is message * 1
Wouldn't be effected. But
This is a *message* see how it works *again here*.
Would have message and again here in a different color.
With regexpes:
$in = 'This is a *message* see how it works *again here*.';
$out = preg_replace('/\*([^*]+)\*/', '<span class="color">$1</span>', $in);
print $out;
little faster than non-greedy matches.
Use explode to split the string on the asterisks. After that, you can output each element in the array, with the right markup inbetween to change the color.
Something like this:
$parts = explode('*', $message);
$italic = false;
for ($part in $parts)
{
if ($italic)
echo '<i>' . $part . '</i>';
else
echo $part;
$italic = !$italic;
}
I would suggest the use of preg_replace():
$message = preg_replace("#\*(.*?)\*#", "<span class=\"color-red\">\\1</span>", $message);
\\1. Makes it look less like a PHP variable.$output = preg_replace('/\*([^*]+)\*/', '<em>$1</em>', $message);
or
$output = preg_replace('/\*(.+?)\*/', '<em>$1</em>', $message);
([^*]+) as the capture pattern, for clarity. The [^*] to strictly specify we're looking for anything that isn't an asterisk, and the + instead of the * to only format anything which contains text inside.$message = 'This is a *message* see how it works *again here*.';
$colorMessage = preg_replace('/\*([^\*]+|[\w]+)\*/', "<span class='color2'>$0</span>", $message);
