I have a block of text that contains a variable:
Hello my name is john #last#
I have 20 different last names in a array that can be used, how can I replace #last# with a random last name from the array? Meaning how can I read between the #'s and get "last" then use that to determine which array to grab from and input a random value
preg_replace_callback() could be your friend.
Basic example:
$s="Hello my name is John #last#";
function random_name($m) {
$a=array('Fos', 'Smith', 'Metzdenafbuhrer', 'the Enlightened');
foreach ($m as $match) {
return $a[array_rand($a)];
}
}
$news=preg_replace_callback('/#last#/', 'random_name', $s);
UPDATE: I created another example for you, with more flexibility:
$s="Hello #title#, my name is John #last#";
function random_name($m) {
$a=array(
'last' => array('Fos', 'Smith', 'Metzdenafbuhrer', 'the Enlightened'),
'title' => array('Honey', 'Boss', ', I am your father'),
);
foreach ($m as $match) {
$v=trim($match, '#');
return $a[$v][array_rand($a[$v])];
}
}
$news=preg_replace_callback('/(#[a-z]+#)/', 'random_name', $s);
<?php
$random_last_names = array("Smith", "Jones", "Davis");
$string = "Hello my name is john #last#";
$random_last_name_id = rand(0, count($random_last_names));
$new_string = preg_replace("/#last#/", $random_last_names[$random_last_name_id], $string);
?>
Or better yet, use printf like fabrik said, but you can use this rand() method to select a name.
Or you can use preg_replace with the /e PREG_REPLACE_EVAL modifier:
$str = '...' // your input text
$names = array('smith', 'brown', 'white', 'red');
echo preg_replace('/#last#/e', '$names[rand(0, count($names) - 1)]', $str);
