A better way to write this preg_replace

[saint4]

I've got this;

$category = preg_replace ( '/[^a-zA-Z0-9\s]/', '', $category );
$category = preg_replace ( '/\s\s+/', ' ', $category );
$category = preg_replace ( '/\s/', '-', $category );

So C++ / C looks like C-C
Visual Basic .Net looks like Visual-Basic-Net
Graphic [multiple spaces] Design looks like Graphic-Design

I was just wondering is there a better way to write the above.

[nrg_alpha]

For the first line, your pattern could be simply: /[^a-z0-9\s]/i

/\s\s+/ - this seems awkward.. you are looking for a whitespace character, followed by a whilespace character one or more times.. by this logic, you are looking for a whitespace character 2 or more times? If so, then I would simply use: /\s{2,}/

[Weedpacket]

$category = preg_replace ( '/\s\s+/', ' ', $category );
$category = preg_replace ( '/\s/', '-', $category ); 

So you want to collapse all runs of consecutive whitespace down to a single hyphen?

$category = preg_replace('/\s+/', '-', $category);