replace wrong html entities using preg_replace

Question

unfortunately, I have to deal with faulty HTML entities in a text, for example

&middot,

instead of the correct entity with the ending semicolon.

I tried

$pattern = "/^&[a-zA-Z]+?,/";
$replace =  "/^&[a-zA-Z]+?;/";
$detailtext = preg_replace($pattern,$replace, $detailtext);

but it doesn't work... This is driving me nuts, I'm new to regular expressions and any help would be greatly appreciated!

Example for $detailtext:

$detailtext = "Unterputz-Einsätze<br>mit Federklemmen (Verbindungsklemmen nach VDE 0632). <br>Die Einsätze können wahlweise mit Standard- oder Flächenabdeckung <br>bestückt werden.<br>Wippschalter<br>10 AX 250 V&sim,<br>Ausführung: Universalschalter (Aus-Wechsel)<br>"

You have # in your pattern and &middot, does not contain the hash. So, it is not that surprising. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented May 6, 2016 at 9:27
tried it without the #. added it because of an answer i read on SO. Does not work without it either — Burnt
– Burnt, Commented May 6, 2016 at 9:30
Are they always at the beginning of the string? If not, remove ^. See '~&[a-z]+[,;]~i. — Wiktor Stribiżew
– Wiktor Stribiżew, Commented May 6, 2016 at 9:31
they are not at the beginning of the string. removed the ^, but now i get &[a-zA-Z]+?; instead of the correct entity — Burnt
– Burnt, Commented May 6, 2016 at 9:37

Lucas Araujo · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-06 09:37:51Z

2

You should try this:

$pattern ="/(&[a-zA-Z]+),/"
$replace ="$1;";
$detailtext = preg_replace($pattern,$replace, $detailtext);

The parenthesis will capture entities that are followed by "," and you can retrieve them with "$n", n being the capture group number. So replace with "$1" followed with ending semicolon.

answered May 6, 2016 at 9:37

Lucas Araujo

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Burnt Over a year ago

That did it! Thanks a lot for the short but very clear answer.

Andreas · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-06 09:41:55Z

0

Try this:

$str = preg_replace("/(\&.*)(\,)/", "$1;", $str);

answered May 6, 2016 at 9:41

Andreas

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