preg_replace not replacing at end of string

[mfacer]

this is driving me mad!
I have the following code:

function removeEmptyLines($string)
{
   $string = preg_replace("/[\r\n]+[\s\t]*[\r\n]+/", "\n", $string);
   $string = preg_replace("/^[\s\t]*[\r\n]+/", "", $string);
   $string = preg_replace("/^[\s\t]*[\s\t]+/", "", $string);
   return $string;
}

my string may be

" hello "

when I export the file - the tabbed spaces are replaced by squares..
the above example would come out as

[][][]hello[][][]

I cannot get the above code to remove the tabs from the end of the string - they are removed from the beginning, but not the end!

thanks for any help!

[kitchin]

Since \s also matches \r and \n. I'd try something simpler, like

$string = preg_replace('/\s[\r\n]+/', "\n", $string);
$string = preg_replace('/\s$/', "\n", $string);
Which also ensures the last line ends in \n.

You can make it one statement:
$string = preg_replace('/\s*([\r\n]+|$)/', "\n", $string);

[kitchin]

Oh, I see it doesn't remove a blank line at the beginning. Use

$string= trim($string);
$string= preg_replace('/\s*[\r\n]+/', "\n", $string);
$string.= "\n";

[Weedpacket]

Would using [man]trim[/man] simplify things?