Replace text within string with array values

Question

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    $some_text = "This red bag will contain green apples.";
    $extracted_array = array("red","bag","green","apples","what","why"); //obtained from database

I would like to replace each occurrence of the $extracted_array values in $some_text with a hyperlinked version of itself.

So "This red bag..." becomes

    This <a href="#">red</a> bag...

This is what I wrote:

    foreach($extracted_array AS $value) {
    $new_value = '<a href="#">'.$value.'</a>';
    $new_text = str_ireplace($value, $new_value, $some_text);
            }
    print_r($linked_content);

But this simply replaces each occurrence with the last value of the loop of $extracted_array (i.e. "why")

Please show me how I can do this right.

As of PHP 5.3.0, @Flosculus answer is the best one!

php-dev
– php-dev

2014-01-20 15:47:18 +00:00
Commented Jan 20, 2014 at 15:47 — php-dev
– php-dev, Commented Jan 20, 2014 at 15:47

Flosculus · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-20 15:43:06Z

1

$some_text = "This red bag will contain green apples.";
$extracted_array = array("red","bag","green","apples","what","why");

$expr = sprintf('/%s/i', implode('|', $extracted_array));

echo preg_replace_callback($expr, function($match){
    return sprintf('<a href="#">%s</a>', $match[0]);
}, $some_text);

Output:

This <a href="#">red</a> <a href="#">bag</a> will contain <a href="#">green</a> <a href="#">apples</a>.

answered Jan 20, 2014 at 15:43

Flosculus

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4 Comments

php-dev Over a year ago

This is definetely the best & proper way to do it!

Bosmaen Over a year ago

This is a very good way to do it. It answers my question, but a little problem occurs when I insert the actual hyperlinks. "This red..." should actually become:"This <a href="/something/red/something">red</a>..."

Flosculus Over a year ago

$match[0] is the match of item in $extracted_array, the return value of the callback is what that pattern will be replaced with. Im' sure you manipulate the return value further. I'm just a sprintf freak, you can use return '<a href="something/'.$match[0].'/something">'.$match[0].'</a>'

Bosmaen Over a year ago

Actually, after going further with what I need to do, your way works best. I guess I need to learn working with regex more

Jurik · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-20 15:38:21Z

0

I think there are better functions in PHP but I'll show you how to do it with your code:

$some_text = "This red bag will contain green apples.";
$extracted_array = array("red","bag","green","apples","what","why"); //obtained from database

foreach($extracted_array AS $value) {
    $new_value = '<a href="#">'.$value.'</a>';
    $some_text = str_ireplace($value, $new_value, $some_text);
}

print_r($some_text);

Your code takes everytime $some_text and saves it into $new_text but never changes $some_text therefor $new_text is the original of $some_text with changed last item of array.

answered Jan 20, 2014 at 15:38

Jurik

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Comments

DragonYen · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-20 15:41:23Z

0

You could make two arrays, and send them in to str_ireplace. However, this might get cumbersome if the total number of replacements you are doing is quite large. The function will replace the string from $aFind with the item (with the same index) from $aReplace.

$aFind = array("red", "green");
$aReplace = array("<a href='/red.php'>red</a>", "<a href='/green.php'>green</a>");
$newString = str_ireplace($aFind, $aReplace, $some_text);
print($newString);

answered Jan 20, 2014 at 15:41

DragonYen

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1 Comment

Bosmaen Over a year ago

Thanks, this idea worked for me, but I still used str_replace. I'll post my answer above.

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