I have a string that has been saved in a database from a textarea form
field.

e.g.

$text = "Dear %name

The date is %date

yours,

%user"

I wish to parse the string replacing every word beginning with % with a
variable $name, $date etc.

However, whenever I use ereg_replace, it just finds the beginning of the
whole string, rather than individual words.. eg

ereg_replace('^', 'foo', $text);

returns "fooDear %name ...".

Any ideas?

Hugh Oxford wrote:
> I have a string that has been saved in a database from a textarea form
> field.
>
> e.g.
>
> $text = "Dear %name
>
> The date is %date
>
> yours,
>
> %user"
>
> I wish to parse the string replacing every word beginning with % with a
> variable $name, $date etc.
>
> However, whenever I use ereg_replace, it just finds the beginning of the
> whole string, rather than individual words.. eg
>
> ereg_replace('^', 'foo', $text);
>
> returns "fooDear %name ...".

What do _you_ think '^' means?
Also, don't use ereg_*, switch to preg_*

$string = preg_replace('/%([a-z]+)/sie','[you asked for $1]',$string);
--
Rik Wasmus
....moving deadlines for your pleasure.

Rik Wasmus wrote:
> Hugh Oxford wrote:
>> I have a string that has been saved in a database from a textarea form
>> field.
>>
>> e.g.
>>
>> $text = "Dear %name
>>
>> The date is %date
>>
>> yours,
>>
>> %user"
>>
>> I wish to parse the string replacing every word beginning with % with
>> a variable $name, $date etc.
>>
>> However, whenever I use ereg_replace, it just finds the beginning of
>> the whole string, rather than individual words.. eg
>>
>> ereg_replace('^', 'foo', $text);
>>
>> returns "fooDear %name ...".
>
> What do _you_ think '^' means?
> Also, don't use ereg_*, switch to preg_*
>
> $string = preg_replace('/%([a-z]+)/sie','[you asked for $1]',$string);

Erm, the /e doesn't belong there ('/%([a-z]+)/si'), I leave it to you to
define a desired callback (possibly with preg_replace_callback) to the
variable.
--
Rik Wasmus
....moving deadlines for your pleasure.

Rik Wasmus wrote:
> Rik Wasmus wrote:
>> Hugh Oxford wrote:
>>> I have a string that has been saved in a database from a textarea
>>> form field.
>>>
>>> e.g.
>>>
>>> $text = "Dear %name
>>>
>>> The date is %date
>>>
>>> yours,
>>>
>>> %user"
>>>
>>> I wish to parse the string replacing every word beginning with % with
>>> a variable $name, $date etc.
>>>
>>> However, whenever I use ereg_replace, it just finds the beginning of
>>> the whole string, rather than individual words.. eg
>>>
>>> ereg_replace('^', 'foo', $text);
>>>
>>> returns "fooDear %name ...".
>>
>> What do _you_ think '^' means?
>> Also, don't use ereg_*, switch to preg_*
>>
>> $string = preg_replace('/%([a-z]+)/sie','[you asked for $1]',$string);
>
> Erm, the /e doesn't belong there ('/%([a-z]+)/si'), I leave it to you to
> define a desired callback (possibly with preg_replace_callback) to the
> variable.

Thanks Rik.

From what I've understood ^ means match the beginning of the string. If
I do ereg_replace('^%', 'foo', $text); it doesn't find anything at all.

Hugh Oxford wrote:
> Rik Wasmus wrote:
>> Rik Wasmus wrote:
>>> Hugh Oxford wrote:
>>>> I have a string that has been saved in a database from a textarea
>>>> form field.
>>>>
>>>> e.g.
>>>>
>>>> $text = "Dear %name
>>>>
>>>> The date is %date
>>>>
>>>> yours,
>>>>
>>>> %user"
>>>>
>>>> I wish to parse the string replacing every word beginning with %
>>>> with a variable $name, $date etc.
>>>>
>>>> However, whenever I use ereg_replace, it just finds the beginning of
>>>> the whole string, rather than individual words.. eg
>>>>
>>>> ereg_replace('^', 'foo', $text);
>>>>
>>>> returns "fooDear %name ...".
>>>
>>> What do _you_ think '^' means?
>>> Also, don't use ereg_*, switch to preg_*
>>>
>>> $string = preg_replace('/%([a-z]+)/sie','[you asked for $1]',$string);
>>
>> Erm, the /e doesn't belong there ('/%([a-z]+)/si'), I leave it to you
>> to define a desired callback (possibly with preg_replace_callback) to
>> the variable.
>
> Thanks Rik.
>
> From what I've understood ^ means match the beginning of the string. If
> I do ereg_replace('^%', 'foo', $text); it doesn't find anything at all.

^ indeed matches the beginning of the string, meaning the string you
provide, not 'beginning of a seperate word'. A $string=
preg_replace('/^/','foo',$string); is the same as saying: $string =
'foo'.$string;. (You can alter this behaviour to make it also valid for
start of a line) An '/^%/' would only be found if you provided $string's
first character is '%'.

You are most likely looking for \b (word boundary)
--
Rik Wasmus
....moving deadlines for your pleasure.

Rik Wasmus wrote:

>
> You are most likely looking for \b (word boundary)

Thanks Rik for all your . It is appreciated. I used your code and
wrote a callback function.


FFR, to use an object method as a callback function you need to use
array($this, 'function_name') as the callback function.