Preg_replace all patterns in a string

Question

I have a str like :

'Test code {B}{X} we are implementing prototype {T} ,
 using combinations of {U}{A} and {L/W}{F/K}.

I need to replace each occurance of {*} with it's corresponding code, so my resulting string would be:

   'Test code <img src="../B.jpg"><img src="../X.jpg"> 
    we are implementing prototype <img src="../T.jpg"> 
    ,using combinations of <img src="../U.jpg">
    <img src="../A.jpg"> and <img src="../LW.jpg">
    <img src="../FK.jpg">.

I don't wish to use str_replace and type out all the combinations because there is literally thousands of them. $combinations = array("{B}", "{X}", "{W}{X},"{X/W}","{A/L}".."); etc

So i'm using preg_match_all to find all occurrences with the string.

function findMatches($start, $end, $str){
    $matches = array();
    $regex = "/$start([\/a-zA-Z0-9_]*)$end/";
    preg_match_all($regex, $str, $matches);
    return $matches[1];
}

Which returns to me,

Array ( [0] => B [1] => X [2] => T [3] => U [4] => A [5] => L/W [6] => F/K )

The problem is I don't need the '/' between letters, which I suppose I could str_replace later.

My question is how can I preg_replace using the array of matches and return the fully modified string back instead of the array?

You are using the wrong tool for the job. What you want is preg_replace_callback. Also, it's totally unclear what exactly you are doing with findMatches. — Jon
– Jon, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 21:17
No idea about this language. but try /\{(.)\}/ and replace it with $1 that is matched group at index 1 within (). It works I have tested at here. For e.g preg_replace('/\\{(.)\\}/', '$1', input_string) and there are 5 matches. — Braj
– Braj, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 21:20
Try /\{([^}].*?)\}/ as well that matches more than one letters inside {}. — Braj
– Braj, Commented Jun 20, 2014 at 21:28

hwnd · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-20 21:56:03Z

3

I suggest using preg_replace_callback() to achieve this. You can then use the str_replace() method to replace the forward slash / in your match that the callback function returns.

$text = <<<DATA
Test code {B}{X} we are implementing prototype {T} ,
 using combinations of {U}{A} and {L/W}{F/K}. 
DATA;

$text = preg_replace_callback('~{([^}]*)}~', 
      function($m) {
         return '<img src="../' . str_replace('/', '', $m[1]) . '.jpg">';
      }, $text);

echo $text;

Working Demo

edited Jun 20, 2014 at 21:56

answered Jun 20, 2014 at 21:22

hwnd

70.9k4 gold badges100 silver badges135 bronze badges

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

1 Comment

Edward Over a year ago

ah this works great thanks didn't know about preg_replace_callback

merlin2011 · Accepted Answer · 2014-06-20 21:48:15Z

1

This will get you halfway there, but you still need one more replace to remove the /

<?php
$input='Test code {B}{X} we are implementing prototype {T} ,
 using combinations of {U}{A} and {L/W}{F/K}.';

$output = preg_replace("/{([^}]*)}/", '<img src="../' . '\\1' . '.jpg">', $input);
echo $output."\n";
?>

Output:

Test code <img src="../B.jpg"><img src="../X.jpg"> we are implementing prototype <img src="../T.jpg"> ,
 using combinations of <img src="../U.jpg"><img src="../A.jpg"> and <img src="../L/W.jpg"><img src="../F/K.jpg">.

answered Jun 20, 2014 at 21:48

merlin2011

76.4k48 gold badges218 silver badges364 bronze badges

1 Comment

Edward Over a year ago

how can i replace the '/' inside of {L/W}{F/K} to be just LW.jpg or FK.jpg?

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Preg_replace all patterns in a string

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

1 Comment

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related