Performance multi if or ereg_replace

[zevious]

This code is part of a huge loop and I need to optimize it. Which would be faster?

if($kk==1) $stt[1]=ereg_replace("[^{0-9]","",$stt[1]);}

or letting it do the ereg_replace every time through the loop:

$stt[1]=ereg_replace("[^{0-9]","",$stt[1]);}

if's seem to come at a significant performance loss.

[zevious]

oops.. sorry for the multiple posting. Please ignore this one..