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I have a code like 

 $newstr = preg_replace_callback("/<p>(.+?)</p>/", function($matches) 
 {
    return str_replace($matches[1], '<b>' . $matches[1] . '</b>', $matches[0]);
 }, $str);

It replaces if a single line string is given like this

 '<p>Hello World and Hello Universe</p>'

but fails when multiple lines are given like

  '<p>Hello World and
         Hello Universe</p>'

How it can be handled? If for test purpose I give string like this

  '<p>Hello World and'.
         'Hello Universe</p>'

It works but the problem is this string is coming from a textarea and cannot understand what to do?

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3
  • use the s modifier to allow multiline statements Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 12:03
  • Thanks @Tularis Amal suggested that. Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 12:06
  • I know, posted this at the same time as amal did Commented Feb 16, 2014 at 12:08

1 Answer 1

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Use the s modifier (also called DOTALL modifier). The dot metacharacter, by default, matches everything except newlines. The s modifier makes it match newlines as well:

$newstr = preg_replace_callback("~<p>(.+?)</p>~s", function($matches) {
    return str_replace($matches[1], '<b>' . $matches[1] . '</b>', $matches[0]);
}, $str);

Demo

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3 Comments

Thanks Amal it worked. I am really weak at Regex it was suggested by Mika a great one.
@JohnSmith: Glad I could help. I suggest going through regular-expressions.info - It's a great resource for learning regex :)
Thanks for the link I will see that and will accept answer after 10 minutes as required by SO

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