str_replace leaving whitespace PHP

Question

This is my variable to be altered:

$last = 'Some string 1 foobar'

and my replace statement

$last = str_replace(['1', '2'], '', $last);

and finally the output

Some string   foobar

How do i get rid of the whitespace in between 'string' and 'foobar', my initial thought was that in my str_replace statement using '' as the replacement would also remove the whitespace but it doesnt.

To clarify I want to know how to make it Some string foobar and not Some stringfoobar.

alternatively, get rid of all double spaces with this preg_replace('!\s+!', ' ', $last); — Dimi
– Dimi, Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 15:41
You should use a regex, then you can say the whitespace around the number is optional. — chris85
– chris85, Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 15:42
@Dimi wow thanks i didnt think that any extra space IN the actual string would affect it, thanks a lot for that. I only dont use reg ex because i read that when manipulating a string its best to use str_replace() plus im not too familiar with regular expressions — Yasmin French
– Yasmin French, Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 15:44
@YasminFrench generally speaking, arkascha's answer is probably better solutuon. — Dimi
– Dimi, Commented Mar 13, 2017 at 15:45

arkascha · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-13 15:50:03Z

1

A regular expression based approach is more flexible for such stuff:

<?php
$subject = 'Some string 1 foobar';
var_dump(preg_replace('/\d\s?/', '', $subject));

The output of above code is: string(18) "Some string foobar"

What does that do, how does it work? It replaces a pattern, not a fixed, literal string. Here the pattern is: any digit (\d) along with a single, potentially existing white space character (\s?).

A different, alternative approach would be that:

<?php
$subject = 'Some string 1 foobar';
var_dump(preg_replace('/(\s\d)+\s/', ' ', $subject));

This one replaces any sequence consisting of one or more occurrences of a digit preceded by a white space ((\s\d)+) along with a single white space by a single white blank character.

edited Mar 13, 2017 at 15:50

answered Mar 13, 2017 at 15:44

arkascha

43.2k8 gold badges61 silver badges97 bronze badges

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

1 Comment

Yasmin French Over a year ago

Right thanks for the explanation as well you cleared a few things up

nicholasnet · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-13 15:58:04Z

0

If you do not want to use preg_replace then you can do something like this.

$result = 'Some string 1 foobar';
$result = str_replace(['1', '2'], '', $result);
$result = str_replace('  ', ' ', $result);

However I have to admit that I like preg_replace solution more. Not sure about the benchmark though.

edited Mar 13, 2017 at 15:58

answered Mar 13, 2017 at 15:51

nicholasnet

2,3174 gold badges25 silver badges55 bronze badges

5 Comments

JustOnUnderMillions Over a year ago

@arkascha Then say he used the wrong variable in the second str_replace and has an syntax error because of the ].

arkascha Over a year ago

You still mix the variables $last and $result.

arkascha Over a year ago

@JustOnUnderMillions I tried to motivate the poster to try the code himself.

arkascha Over a year ago

Thanks for fixing things! Looks ok now and might indeed be faster than a regular expression based attempt.

JustOnUnderMillions Over a year ago

@arkascha Thats a point, but sometimes its better to be direct :-) And comments like this will stay after the question is fixed. Can irritate others ;-) Thnx for notice the error in the first place :-)

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

str_replace leaving whitespace PHP

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

5 Comments

Your Answer

Linked

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

1 Comment

5 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Linked

Related