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PCRE –– examples 2
written by: admin


Date Written: 2/14/10 Last Updated: 11/7/19

replace content between anchor tags –– example 1

$text=preg_replace('/(<a.+>)(.+)(<\/a>)/Ue',"'$1'.str_replace('-','&ndash;','$2').'$3'",$text);

This was really hard to figure out.  This uses the e modifier to use php.  Notice that captured subpatterns are placed within single quotes and is concatenated with a period.  This is the first time I have started using the U modifier.  The U modifier reverses the greediness of the expressions.  ? becomes a maximizer as opposed to a minimizer.  The expressions are now ungreedy by default when this modifier is set.

Note: deprecated.


Replace pattern between anchor tags –– example 2

This is another variation of the example above, but without using \e.  Basically, it will find and replace a pattern found within a pattern.

<?php
$text="hi-ll-upu<a href=\"http://www.animev-iews.com/index.php\">yo-me-yo</a>tipsy-me";
$text=preg_replace('/-(?=((?!<\/?a\b|>).)*<\/a)/','XX',$text);
echo "$text";
?>

produces:
hi–ll–upuyoXXmeXXyotipsy–me


replace pattern found between tags and is not preceded by or followed by a period

example 1

<?php
$text = "<strong>34D-23.48</strong>";
$text=preg_replace('/>\s?([\w\-]{1,}\.?)(?=((?!<\/?strong\b|>|\.\s?<).)*<\/strong)/','>stock # $1',$text);
echo "$text";
?>

matches:

<strong>34D–23.48</strong>
<strong>34d<strong>
<strong>34–435k53.fr4.4</strong>
<strong>34d <strong>
<strong> 34d<strong>

The following fail:

<strong>.34d<strong>
<strong> .34d<strong>
<strong>34d.<strong>
<strong>34d. <strong>

I like this example, because it demonstrates a workaround for using a lookbehind and a lookahead at the same time.  The need for using a lookbehind results when you are looking for a pattern within a pattern, which is more complicated than finding a pattern between a simple match as demonstrated in example 2 below.

example 2

This example is very similar, but is easier to understand.  The only differences is that it requires a period somewhere in the middle as opposed to being optional and is stricter about being within <strong> tags.
<?php
$text = "<strong>34D-23.48</strong>";
$text=preg_replace('/>\s?([\w\-]{1,}\.[\w\-]{1,})(?=((?!<\/?strong\b|>|\.\s?<).)*<\/strong)/','>stock # $1',$text);
echo "$text";
?>



Replace pattern that is not between anchor tags

<?php
$text="hi-ll-upu<a href=\"http://www.anime-views.com/index.php\">yo-me-yo</a>tipsy-me";
$text=preg_replace('/-(?!((?!<\/?a\b).)*<\/a)/','XX',$text);
echo "$text";
?>


produces:

hiXXllXXupuyo–me–yotipsyXXme

The dashes that are replaced are not between the anchor tags or within them.



replace hyphens with dashes

$text=preg_replace("/-(?!((?!<\/?(script|style|a|object|iframe)\b).)*(<\/(script|style|a>|object|iframe)))/is","&ndash;",$text);
$text=preg_replace('/-(?=((?!<\/?a\b|>).)*<\/a)/','&ndash;',$text);
$text=preg_replace('/(style=(\"|\'))(.+)(\'|\")/Ue',"'$1'.str_replace('&ndash;','-','$3').'$4'",$text);
$text=preg_replace('/(<button\sonclick=(\"|\'))(.+)(\'|\")/Ue',"'$1'.str_replace('&ndash;','-','$3').'$4'",$text);

This script will replace hyphens with dashes unless it is part of inline styling, javascript, button, css, iframe, object, or the url of a hyperlink.  The script will work on the hyperlinked text though.  One limitation of the script is that it will stop executing if the string is approximately 11,633 characters in length.  I still use this script because I have a workaround in place to selectively disable the script if needed.  You can try it out here.


Convert BB Code to HTML Code using recursion

<?php
$text = '[one]text [two]text [three]text[/thre] text[/two] text[/one]';
$regexp = '{((\[([^\]]+)\])((?:(?:(?!\[/?\3\]).)*+|(?1))*)(\[/\3\]))}si';
while(preg_match($regexp,$text,$match)){
    $text = preg_replace($regexp,'<$3>$4</$3>',$text);
}
echo $text;
?>


Recursion is difficult to understand or even find good examples for.  The above will output

<one>text <two>text [three]text[/thre] text</two> text</one>

mismatched BB Code is ignored.




some helpful links



TAGS: pcre, php
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