Exclude specific characters from a string using regex

Question

I have a regex that extracts typed URL's from a string (a description text that could include typed URL's) and converts them to href's. This all works fine except for the fact that when a URL is typed and it's last character is a "," of ")" it also takes this character as part of the URL. How could I prevent this?

Example text:

Hi this is my beautiful message which contains a link (see www.website.com) and some more info.

My regex reads the URL but also takes the last character ")" when it creates the href, resulting in a bad link.

My Regex:

preg_replace("#(^|[\n ])((www|ftp)\.[^ \"\t\n\r< ]*)#", "\\1<a href=\"http://\\2\" target=\"_blank\">\\2</a>", $text);

jarchuleta · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-27 16:11:08Z

1

It looks like your matching anything after the url.try this.

preg_replace("#(^|[\n ])((www|ftp)\.[^ \"\t\n\r< ][^\,)]*)#", "\\1<a href=\"http://\\2\" target=\"_blank\">\\2</a>", $text);

answered Apr 27, 2012 at 16:11

jarchuleta

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pamphlet · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-27 16:12:15Z

1

Include "," and ")" in the list of URL terminating characters. Don't forget to escape ")" with a backslash. In other words, try:

preg_replace("#(^|[\n ])((www|ftp)\.[^ \"\t\n\r< \),]*)#", "\\1<a href=\"http://\\2\" target=\"_blank\">\\2</a>", $text);

(I haven't tested this.)

edited Apr 27, 2012 at 16:12

answered Apr 27, 2012 at 16:06

pamphlet

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