Help with preg_split for &lt;br&gt;

Help with preg_split for

bcp1961

I'm trying to split a string of text into paragraphs, getting the text input from a form. The assumption (instructions) are that the text is to be saved into a "notepad" file, no wordwrapping format, (the text is mostly articles that are free to republish.) The text is then to be copied and pasted from notepad into the php form, and when the submit button is clicked I am trying to split the text into paragraphs. The paragraphs are all double spaced (at least when they are copied into notepad they are double spaced).
I'm using the code below, it makes an array of the text, but every other line shows this for an element output:
"< [1] => > < "

This is the code I'm using:

PHP:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$string = $paragraph;
$string = str_replace("\n"," ",$string);
$string = preg_split(" ", $string); // string is an array containing paragraphs from $string
print_r ($string);

So basically I am getting an array return of:

PHP:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Array ( [0] =>Text from first paragraph. < [1] => > < [2] => >Text from second paragraph.< [3] => > < [4] => >Text from third paragraph.

and so on.....
I've tried about 10+ variations on this code, one variation works if I manually put the carriage returns in on the form itself, and one variation works properly if I put in some obscure delimiter like "qwert" (which would need to be typed into the beginning of every paragraph, not a very practical approach!)

I'm still pretty new and am totally confused now...
I'd appreciate any help!
Thanks
Bernadette

ereptur

I'm confused. It sounds like you are getting the results that you want. What exactly is the problem?

bcp1961

The results I want would be as follows:
"Array ( [0] => Text from first paragraph. [1] => Text from second paragraph. [2] => Text from third paragraph." etc.

The results I am getting are:
"Array ( [0] =>Text from first paragraph. < [1] => > < [2] => >Text from second paragraph.< [3]=> <[4] =>Text from third paragraph."

If you notice at the end of element [0] there is a "<" and then in element [1] there is at ">" and "<", this appears repeatedly down through my array elements, element [1], element [3] and so on.

So it is not really the results I want....

ereptur

Well, the preg_replace is a perl style function which means that you need to escape the / in and enclose the entire value in / /.

Example:
$string = preg_split("/ /",$string);

what is the input string that you are testing this with? If it contains blank lines, then the str_replace will remove the \n character but it will not remove a \r if it is on a windows machine. Windows uses \r\n for it's carriage returns while Linux uses \n and Macs use \r.

I don't know if this is relavent, but it may be important.

bcp1961

I just tested the script with the code you suggested, the output was :
"Array ( [0] => Text from first paragraph.

Text from second paragraph.

Text from third paragraph."

The input I'm using is the text above, double spaced between lines.

I also tried the code you suggested and also used "\r\n" in the str_replace line of the script, but got the same results.
???

ereptur

give me an example of what you want the returned.

here is my code

<?php
$string = $_POST['test'];
$string = nl2br($string);
$string = preg_split("/<br \/>/",$string);
print_r($string);
?>

text from 1st paragraph
text from 2nd paragraph
text from 3rd paragraph

above it my input string.

my output with my code is:
Array ( [0] => text from 1st paragraph [1] => text from 2nd paragraph [2] => text from 3rd paragraph )

bcp1961

When I try that code I get this error message:

Warning: Unknown modifier '>' in home/www/test.php line 15.

I also need to have double space between paragraphs...

"Text for 1st paragraph.

Text for 2nd paragraph.

Text for 3rd paragraph."

==================
I've got the code working so that it makes an element out of every , but now I need it to make an element when there are 2 's.
I've tried "/ /{2}" and "/<br{2}/, I can't seem to figure out how to write it.

Moonglobe

$string = preg_split("/<br />/",$string);

should be:

$string = preg_split("/<br \\/>/",$string);

i think..........

bcp1961

Thanks, that's taken care of the error message.
Is there a way that I can have it make an array on the occurance of 2 's...?
I tried this:

$string = preg_split("/<br \/>/{2}",$string);

also tried this...

$string = preg_split("[/<br \/>/{2}]",$string);

😕

ereptur

$string = preg_split("/<br \\/><br \\/>/",$string);