PHP: Convert string back to normal

Question

I found a function in MediaWiki Source, which converts a string with umlauts to HEX format.

Now i want to convert the formated string back to the string with umlauts.

The function:

    $Umlaut = "löschen";

    $out = preg_replace_callback("/([\\xc0-\\xff][\\x80-\\xbf]*)/",'stripForSearchCallback', $Umlaut);

    function stripForSearchCallback( $matches ) {
         return 'u8' .  bin2hex( $matches[1] );
    }

    echo $out;

Output: "lu8c3b6schen"

Now i want to convert "lu8c3b6schen" back to "löschen".

How can i do this please?

Match for hexnum tuples and use chr(hexdec()) as callback. — mario
– mario, Commented Jun 23, 2013 at 18:22
Is your output even valid? I though that hex format should be a pair of [a-z0-9], but you have an uneven format 8c3b6. Maybe I'm missing something ? Also notice that a regex would most likely mess your sentence for example if you have numbers in it löschen 65 or consecutive hex letters: acce nt — HamZa
– HamZa, Commented Jun 23, 2013 at 18:32
Yes you are right. I dont think its HEX. Mediawiki says the following: "Armor a case-folded UTF-8 string to get through MySQL's * fulltext search without being mucked up by funny charset * settings or anything else of the sort." - But i cant find any function which is able to convert it back — Steven
– Steven, Commented Jun 23, 2013 at 18:36

Guillaume · Accepted Answer · 2013-06-23 18:38:54Z

2

Try something like that:

$string = "lu8c3b6schen";

$out = preg_replace_callback("/u8([a-f0-9]{4})/",'unstrip', $string);

function unstrip( $matches ) {
    $decoded = hex2bin( $matches[1] );
    return $decoded ? $decoded : $matches[1];
}

echo $out;

answered Jun 23, 2013 at 18:38

Guillaume

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1 Comment

HamZa Over a year ago

sigh How did I not see the u, +1

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