[RESOLVED] Using wildcards

benbox

Hey all!

I've been playing about with replacing values in a string, with other values.. like the following: -

$str = ereg_replace("newValue", "oldValue", $str);

However, I'm not really understanding how to use wildcards..

What I want to do, is find bits where I have 2 brackets like[FONT=Courier New] { }[/FONT] and replace those AND and whatever might be between them with another value..

So for example, if I had [FONT=Courier New]{text text}[/FONT] and [FONT=Courier New]{text with more spaces}[/FONT] how can I take both of those into account and replace with something else? by searching for "{" then anything and then a final "}"

Can anyone help please?

scrupul0us

your kindbackwards with your stuff there

its:

$str = ereg_replace(pattern, replacement, string);

but you want:

$str = ereg_replace("({*})", "newvalue", $str);

im pretty sure thats the correct regex....

benbox

Hmm, no wonder I was having confusing problems lol.. thanks for spotting that..

Although, it still doesn't appear to be working properly :quiet:

<?php
$str = '{first block of stuff} [something in between] {more stuff after}';
echo ereg_replace("{*}", "newvalue", $str);
?>

is outputting:

{first block of stuffnewvalue [something in between] {more stuff afternewvalue

i.e. just replacing the last }

Does the same with your code with the ( )'s in too.

I've played about with various backslash combinations but still having the same problem, lol.

scrupul0us

dont remove the parenthesis around {*}... the parenthesis indicate its "together"

benbox

Oh, I see. Ok, I've put those back in..

so it's now:

echo ereg_replace("({*})", "newvalue", $str);

again.. but still outputting the same :bemused:

scrupul0us

hrm yea my regex is messed up... im toying

scrupul0us

idk man... im not that great at regex's youll have to find someone else to help you with that

benbox

It definately doesn't appear to be logical! but thanks for the help anyway! 😃

If anyone else can help, please do!

benbox

Ok, several hours later.. I've found it out!

(.*) - with the parenthesis around it

$line = ereg_replace("{(.*)}", "newvalue", $line);

benbox

On a sidenote.. another question, is there somewhere that explains how to use all of these? I can't seem to find anything apart from the examples under preg_replace etc in the php manual.. but I would have thought they would be there somewhere?

scrupul0us

http://www.regular-expressions.info/

benbox

oh, that's what they're called!

I'll start reading up on them.. thanks again 😃