Replace String with Form Element

kbc1

I am looking for a solution to my problem.

I retrieve a very long string from a database field and in this string might be a collection of predefined identifiers that I search for and if I find these 'sub string' identifiers I need to replace them with their associated Form Elements which are stored in a collection of include files.

i.e. if i find {TA} in the string I need to replace that with an include file which is essentially a TextArea field.

If i find {CB} is replace this with the include file which is a CheckBox.

Is there a way to achieve this? I don't think it's possible to do a str_replace but the replacement is an include file is it??

Many Thanks

etully

if (preg_match("/\{_TA_\}/",$string_from_database)) {
$x = readfile("includes/ta.txt");
$string_from_database = preg_replace("/\{_TA_\}/",$x,$string_from_database) ;
}

or something like that?

bradgrafelman

Well for one regular expressions are overkill in this situation, and [man]readfile/man outputs the file's contents.

A simple [man]str_replace/man and [man]file_get_contents/man is all that's really needed, here.

kbc1 wrote:
I don't think it's possible to do a str_replace

Why not? You're taking one string and replacing it with another. Doesn't that sound like that is the primary goal/function of "str_replace" ? :p

nrg_alpha

If you want a definite known character / sequence of characters replaced with something else, regex isn't needed.

Relating to the pattern presented however, { and } characters don't need to be escaped (unless you are also using those as your delimiters - which is not the case here).

EDIT - forget that last exlanation...its incorrect. Point being.. don't need to escape those braces.