Easy I guess but I cant figure it out

[shumway]

I want to replace the string "[USER_NAME]" with the value in $user_name in my longer string: $emailbody.

Well - works fine except it doesnt replace the hole string - just the characters between the brackets.

$emailbody = "bla bla bla [USER_NAME] bla bla bla";

$emailbody = preg_replace( "[USER_NAME]", $user_name, $emailbody );

result:
$emailbody = "bla bla bla [George W. Bush] bla bla bla"

But im telling it to replace the brackets as well!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jpmoriarty]

try escaping the brackets with the \ character in the preg_replace

[shumway]

Thanks! Got it to work now:

$emailbody = preg_replace( "/[USER_NAME]/", $user_name, $emailbody );

I will be better in describing my problem in the subject next time :-)

[xblue]

just a note: for "simple" replacements like this you actually wouldn't need regular expressions, you could use str_replace() instead just as well.