[Resolved] regular expression string replace...

[stevesweetland]

$string = "23,string test,90";

ok - notice this string. the string here is going to be split into 3 parts.

what if it has a comma in the middle? i get 4, or more parts.

i can do a regular expression to find out if a string is valid - IE if it has ##,string,##... that isnt a problem.

if its not, i need to replace all the commas i find in the string.

for example - this would be invalid.

$string = "23,i ,being annoying ,will use loads of commas , in my input,90";

it is too late, before you suggest it, to filter on input - because the data has already been collected.

[paulnaj]

What's the problem with your 'invalid' string?

[Weedpacket]

You could anchor the two ends to the beginning and ending of the string, then make sure that the first part and last part don't contain any commas

preg_match('/^([^,]*),(.*),([^,]*)$/', $string);

[stevesweetland]

so - that regular expression there - would be to say it can have a comma either side of the middle bit, but no commas in the middle?

thats great - so now my problem then, is actually removing the erroneous commas.

paul - thats whats wrong. too many commas. the middle section was input by the user, and could (in this case DOES) contain commas.

[leatherback]

Hi,

Or.. -If there is no comma's in part 1 and 3-:

Explode your string by comma,
The first part is the first element of the array. The third part i sthe last element of the array. Using count you find the number of elements of the array, which you use to get the sub-elemets of the array, which you can then implode() again using a new seperator?

Just a thought,

J.

[stevesweetland]

thankyou for a moment of clear thinking - heres me trying too hard for a complex answer when the answer could be so simple.

cheers fella.