eregi_replace transition to preg_replace

[Soulshade]

Hello everyone!

I'm trying to update a search script from one open source project, and I encountered a problem with fixing the following piece of code:

function formattext($whatfind, $text){

$pos	= @strpos(strtoupper($text), strtoupper($whatfind));
$otstup = 200; 
$result = '';

if ($pos !== false){ 
	if ($pos < $otstup){ 
		$result = substr($text, 0, $otstup * 2); 
		$result = eregi_replace($whatfind, '<span class="hilite">'.$whatfind.'</span>', $result);
	} else {
		$start = $pos-$otstup;

		$result = '...'.substr($text, $pos-$otstup, $otstup * 2).'...';

		$result = eregi_replace($whatfind, '<span class="hilite">'.$whatfind.'</span>', $result);
	}
} else {
	$result = substr($text, 0, $otstup * 2);
}

return $result;
}

On PHP 5.2.x everything works ok, however on PHP 5.3.x it shows following error:
Deprecated: Function eregi_replace() is deprecated in /home/hawkdesi/public_html/cms/search.php on line 113

I made following changes:

function formattext($whatfind, $text){

$pos	= @strpos(strtoupper($text), strtoupper($whatfind));
$otstup = 200; 
$result = '';

if ($pos !== false){ 
	if ($pos < $otstup){ 
		$result = substr($text, 0, $otstup * 2); 
		$result = preg_replace($whatfind, '/(<span class="hilite">)/i'.$whatfind.'/(</span>)/i', $result);
	} else {
		$start = $pos-$otstup;

		$result = '...'.substr($text, $pos-$otstup, $otstup * 2).'...';

		$result = preg_replace($whatfind, '/(<span class="hilite">)/i'.$whatfind.'/(</span>)/i', $result);
	}
} else {
	$result = substr($text, 0, $otstup * 2);
}

return $result;
}

however I'm getting some new errors again and am currently stuck.

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Delimiter must not be alphanumeric or backslash in /home/test/public_html/cms/search.php on line 113

Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier '�' in /home/test/public_html/cms/search.php on line 113

Could anyone point me what I did wrong and how it should be done?

Thanks upfront!

[bradgrafelman]

Do you even use regular expression syntax when calling this formattext() function? If not, then it sounds like you should consider using something like [man]str_ireplace/man instead.

[sneakyimp]

Try checking out the documentation on [man]preg_replace[/man] for starters. Your code doesn't show what information is being passed in $whatfind, but unless $whatfind is a proper perl-compatible regular expression PCRE then you are going to get errors. I'm only guessing but I imagine that this function is supposed to take some arbitrary parameter and replace it with html to format/highlight it. Since both preg_replace lines are identical (and incorrect) I would recommend replacing each with something like this:

$pattern = "/" . preg_quote($whatfind, "/") . "/i";
$result = preg_replace($pattern, '<span class="hilite">$0</span>', $result);

[Soulshade]

This is the function which is calling formattext()

$all_words = explode(" ", $search);

foreach($all_words as $single_word){
	$output = formattext($single_word, $output);
}

return $output;
}

[sneakyimp]

Well now we still don't know what's in $whatfind because we don't know what's in $all_words -- but please don't go find the bit of code that defines $all_words. That's not really the point. I've explained what the problem is and I've even suggested some code.

[Soulshade]

Sorry, wasn't intentional. I posted that part of code before refreshing and seen your post afterwards.
I'm currently reading the documentation and going to try using your advice aswell as well as bradgrafelman with str_ireplace .

[Soulshade]

thanks for suggestions and point to right direction sneakyimp, I managed to get it working as intended.