Regular Expression: Replace multiple input fields with their values

Question

I want to use regular expressions to replace input tags with their corresponding values. The search must include the name of the input, since I have multiple inputs in the same form that need replacing.

For example, I need the following string:

<input value="Your Name" name="custom_field_1">

to become:

Your Name

My current code looks like this:

foreach ($_POST as $key => $value) {
   if($key == 'post_id') continue;
   $content = preg_replace("/<\s* input [^>]+ >/xi", htmlspecialchars($value), $content);
}

However, this will replace ALL inputs with the first value, so I need to refine the regex to include the name.

Thank you very much for your help!

Ciprian

Why $_POST contains html <input value="Your Name" name="custom_field__29541"> ? Maybe, you show var_dum($_POST) ? — splash58
– splash58, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 18:09
var_dump for $_POST: array(7) { ["post_id"]=> string(4) "4495" ["custom_field_1"]=> string(7) "Value 1" ["custom_field_2"]=> string(7) "Value 2" ["custom_field_3"]=> string(7) "Value 3" ["custom_field_4"]=> string(7) "Value 4" ["custom_field_5"]=> string(7) "Value 5" ["custom_field_6"]=> string(7) "Value 6" } — Ciprian
– Ciprian, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 18:58
echo $_POST["post_id"]; // 4495 You don't need any replacing — splash58
– splash58, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 19:05
I found a regex that works: $content = preg_replace("#<input([^>]*)name=['\"]".preg_quote($key)."['\"]([^>]*)>#Uis", htmlspecialchars($value), $content); Thank you for all your help! — Ciprian
– Ciprian, Commented Jul 8, 2015 at 19:12

Andris Leduskrasts · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-08 18:09:52Z

1

You can match the whole string, capture the value by using parenthesis (..), making a capture group, and replacing the match with $1 - the first capture group.

<input value="(.+?)" name=".*?">

https://regex101.com/r/rH1wA2/3

Try: preg_replace("<input value=\\"(.+?)\\" name=\\".*?\\">", $1, $str)

Note that this regex has "value", "name" and even spaces. If your strings sometimes look different, you have to take that to account and change the regex accordingly. <input value="(.+?)"[^>]*>, for example, to replace no matter what follows your desired value.

edited Jul 8, 2015 at 18:09

answered Jul 8, 2015 at 18:04

Andris Leduskrasts

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user557597 · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-08 18:12:03Z

This should work.
Just replace the match with $1

 # (?s)<input(?=\s)(?>(?:(?<=\s)value\s*=\s*"([^"]+)"|".*?"|'.*?'|[^>]*?)+>)(?(1)|(?!))

 (?s)
 <input                        # Input tag
 (?= \s )
 (?>                           # Atomic grouping
      (?:
           (?<= \s )
           value  \s* = \s*              # 'value' attribute
           "
           (                             # (1 start), 'value' data
                [^"]+ 
           )                             # (1 end)
           "
        |  " .*? "
        |  ' .*? '
        |  [^>]*? 
      )+
      >
 )
 (?(1)                         # Conditional - Only input tags with a 'value' attr
   |  (?!)
 )

Sample:

<input type="hidden" value="Special:Search" name="title" />

Output:

 **  Grp 0 -  ( pos 0 , len 59 ) 
<input type="hidden" value="Special:Search" name="title" />  
 **  Grp 1 -  ( pos 28 , len 14 ) 
Special:Search

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