PHP preg_replace not working as expected

Question

I'm trying to run a find replace of multiple values to do a mail merge effect on an HTML signature stored in the database.

I can get the string part replaced no worries, but for some reason it's leaving the "[" & "]" behind in the output.

Merge tags in the HTML would look like this: [FirstName], [LastName]

Original HTML would look like this:

Kind regards

[FirstName] [LastName]

After running the mailmerge function it should look like this:

Kind regards

John Smith

Here is what I've come up with so far, and Im sure the issue is something small:

public function merge_user_signature() {
    $user = $this->get_user_by_id();
    //spit_out($user);

    $authorisedMergeTags = array (
        "[FirstName]" => $user->firstName, 
        "[LastName]" => $user->lastName
    );

    $keys = array_keys($authorisedMergeTags);
    $values = array_values($authorisedMergeTags);
    $html = $this->get_user_signature();

    $mergedSignature = preg_replace($keys, array_values($authorisedMergeTags), $html);

    return $mergedSignature;
}

Thanks in advance

Can't speak about that specific replace since I've not looked up the docs, however [ and ] are special characters in regex'es and should normally (if you want them to be used literally) be prefixed with backslash, as in \[. — Joachim Isaksson
– Joachim Isaksson, Commented Mar 19, 2016 at 0:57

Casimir et Hippolyte · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-19 01:02:36Z

1

You don't need to use a regex to deal with literal strings (whatever the situation):

return strtr($html, $authorisedMergeTags);

answered Mar 19, 2016 at 1:02

Casimir et Hippolyte

90k5 gold badges102 silver badges131 bronze badges

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

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

PHP preg_replace not working as expected

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related