PHP preg_replace() on multiple items

Question

This is what I have so far:

<?php
$text = preg_replace('/((\*) (.*?)\n)+/', 'awesome_code_goes_here', $text);
?>

I am successfully matching plain-text lists in the format of:

* list item 1
* list item 2

I'd like to replace it with:

<ul>
  <li>list item 1</li>
  <li>list item 2</li>
</ul>

I can't get my head around wrapping <ul> and looping through <li>s! Can anyone please help?

EDIT: Solution as answered below...

My code now reads:

$text = preg_replace('/\* (.*?)\n/', '<ul><li>$1</li></ul>', $text);
$text = preg_replace('/<\/ul><ul>/', '', $text);

That did it!

You may use preg_match_all to match all items and then rewrite them within ul and li tags. — Ahmet Kakıcı
– Ahmet Kakıcı, Commented Aug 9, 2009 at 22:32

Amber · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-09 22:33:29Z

4

One option would be to simply replace each list item with <ul><li>list item X</li></ul> and then run a second replace which would replace any </ul><ul> with nothing.

answered Aug 9, 2009 at 22:33

Amber

531k89 gold badges643 silver badges558 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

Comments

David · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-26 03:18:36Z

2

I know that this is an old post - but it needs a solution. Try this! :)

$text = preg_replace("/\[ul\](.*)\[\/ul\]/Usi", "<ul>\\1</ul>", $text);
$text = preg_replace("/\[li\](.*)\[\/li\]/Usi", "<li>\\1</li>", $text);

answered Sep 26, 2012 at 3:18

David

211 bronze badge

Comments

Chris Thompson · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-09 22:29:29Z

0

I'm not an expert with regex's, but what you're going to want to do is match the pattern you have and capture it into a backreference by surrounding the desired pattern with ()'s. You can then place $1 (for the first back reference and so on) in your "awesome code section"

Regex buddy has a really, really awesome tutorial on regular expressions if you need more

answered Aug 9, 2009 at 22:29

Chris Thompson

35.6k12 gold badges86 silver badges110 bronze badges

1 Comment

Al. Over a year ago

I've got $1 etc working for single matches, but I was hoping to wrap output around all matches, then add output around each match. Thanks for the link!

Peter Bailey · Accepted Answer · 2009-08-09 22:40:45Z

0

I think this is what you want

<?php

$text = <<<TEXT
* item
* item
TEXT;

$html = preg_replace( "/^\\* (.*)$/m", "<li>\\1</li>", $text );

echo '<ul>', $html, '</ul>';

answered Aug 9, 2009 at 22:40

Peter Bailey

106k32 gold badges186 silver badges206 bronze badges

1 Comment

Al. Over a year ago

Thanks! But the list is buried in a huge string

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP preg_replace() on multiple items

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

4 Answers 4

Comments

Comments

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related