How to replace text with a regex pattern and integrate a counter in the replacement text?

Question

function parse($string){
    $counter = 0;
    
    $string = preg_replace("_\[b\](.*?)\[/b\]_si", '<span class="b">'. $counter .'. $1</span>', $string, -1, $counter);
    
    return $string;
}

I'm trying to make a ubb parser, that parses tags and put the counting in front of it:

[b]Hey[/b]
[b]Hello[/b]

Should return this:

<span class="b">1. Hey</span>
<span class="b">2. Hello</span>

But is returning this:

<span class="b">1. Hey</span>
<span class="b">1. Hello</span>

So beside the function above, I've tried this:

function parse($string){
    
    $counter = 0;
    
    $string = preg_replace_callback(("_\[b\](.*?)\[/b\]_si", function(){
        '<span class="b">'. $counter++ .'. $1</span>',
    }, $string);
}

but that, and the function at the top, didn't work. What am I doing wrong and/or could I try?

hwnd · Accepted Answer · 2014-04-27 22:18:03Z

3

I would solve it with a small class with the counter as property and the callback is a method of the class.

class Increaser {
    private $counter;

    public function replace($string) {
        $this->counter = 0;

        return preg_replace_callback("_\[b\](.*?)\[/b\]_si", array($this, 'createReplacement'), $string);
    }

    private function createReplacement($matches) {
        ++$this->counter;

        return '<span class="b">'. $this->counter .'. ' . $matches[1] . '</span>';
    }
}

edited Apr 27, 2014 at 22:18

hwnd

70.9k4 gold badges100 silver badges135 bronze badges

answered Nov 8, 2013 at 14:53

TiMESPLiNTER

5,9193 gold badges31 silver badges68 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

6 Comments

Thew Over a year ago

What is the advantage of having a class?

TiMESPLiNTER Over a year ago

Your counter will count. Don't know if it's the best solution but only one I can mention.

Thew Over a year ago

Your*. ;) Using global variables, counting has worked with preg_replace_callback, but it would display $1 instead of the actual value.

TiMESPLiNTER Over a year ago

Oops ;-) I'm not native speaker so I mess this things up sometimes in speedy typing. Corrected it. The function to do the replacement gets an arg. Look at edited code in my answer.

Ben Fortune Over a year ago

Got one more ( than you need after callback :)

|

Thew · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-08 15:10:36Z

0

Eventually solved it with the help of TiMESPLiNTER (give him the credit!), didn't know $1 didn't get brought along and that you have to call a variable $matches in the callback function and get $matches[1] instead of $1.

$counter = 1;

function parse(){
    function cb($matches){
        global $counter;

        return '<span class="b">'. $this->counter .'. ' . $matches[1] . '</span>';
    }

    $string = preg_replace_callback("_\[b\](.*?)\[/b\]_si", 'cb', $string);
}

answered Nov 8, 2013 at 15:10

Thew

16k20 gold badges62 silver badges102 bronze badges

3 Comments

TiMESPLiNTER Over a year ago

Don't know it this is a good solution and will work if register_globals is set to off. (Just guessing)

TiMESPLiNTER Over a year ago

Then it's time to start ;-).

mickmackusa Over a year ago

Undefined variable $string. I don't believe $this->counter is right either. And parse() doesn't print or return anything.

mickmackusa · Accepted Answer · 2020-11-23 07:43:30Z

You don't need to declare a global "counter" variable or design a class-based workaround. You can simply use a static variable declaration inside of preg_replace_callback()'s custom function.

Code: (Demo) -- this is the way I would code my own project

$ubbText = <<<TEXT
[b]Hey[/b]
[b]Hello[/b]
TEXT;

echo preg_replace_callback(
         "~\[b](.*?)\[/b]~si",
         function ($m) {
             static $counter = 0;
             return '<span class="b">' . (++$counter) . '. ' . $m[1] . '</span>';
         },
         $ubbText
     );

Alternatively, you could avoid the use of a static declaration and use preg_replace() because your code logic will not possibly replace replacements (an infinite loop is not possible). To be honest, I don't prefer this technique because it involves iterated preg_ function calls which make one replacement per iteration and the regex engine will need to restart from the beginning of the input string each time.

Code: (Demo)

$counter = 0;
do {
    $ubbText = preg_replace(
        "~\[b](.*?)\[/b]~si",
        '<span class="b">' . (++$counter) . '. $1</span>',
         $ubbText,
         1,
         $count
     );
} while ($count);
echo $ubbText;

Output (from both snippets):

<span class="b">1. Hey</span>
<span class="b">2. Hello</span>

p.s. I suppose I should state for the record that your regex pattern will not favorably handle the possibility of nested tags [b] bold [b]re-bold[/b][/b]. If these types of occurrences are not possible in your application's text, then no worries. There are ways to mitigate this vulnerability, but I will not digress in this post. Search Stack Overflow for this if your application requires it.

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

How to replace text with a regex pattern and integrate a counter in the replacement text?

3 Answers 3

6 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

3 Answers 3

6 Comments

3 Comments

Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related