PHP: Replace the content between two characters, in multiple occurrences [duplicate]

Question

I'm trying to replace the contents between some "special" characters, in each of their occurrences. For example, let's say i have that string:

<div><small>static content</small><small>[special content type 3]</small> 
<small>static content</small><small>[special content type 4]</small></div>

I would like to replace each "special content", between square brackets, with something that is represented by this "identifier"(let's say, some "widget").

I've tried this code from Stackoverflow:

$search = "/[^<tag>](.*)[^<\/tag>]/";
$replace = "your new inner text";
$string = "<tag>i dont know what is here</tag>";
echo preg_replace($search,$replace,$string);

This works, but only for the first occurrence. I need this operation to be repeated across the entire string.

I've also tried this one:

echo preg_replace('/<div class="username">.+?</div>/im', '<div 
class="username">Special Username<\/div>', $string) ;

It gives me a "Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier 'd' in Standard input code on line 8" error.

Any ideas?

If you are parsing HTML, use a DOM parser instead of regex. The m pattern modifier doesn't do anything in your coding attempt. — mickmackusa
– mickmackusa ♦, Commented Jul 9, 2022 at 13:50
Please don't try answers which have comments under them saying that the answer us 100% incorrect. — mickmackusa
– mickmackusa ♦, Commented Feb 3, 2023 at 12:09

Nick · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-12 22:23:18Z

2

Your code from stackoverflow needs minor changes:

$search = "/(<tag>)(.*?)(<\/tag>)/";
$replace = '$1your new inner text$3';
$string = "<tag>i dont know what is here</tag> some text <tag>here's another one</tag>";
echo preg_replace($search,$replace,$string);

answered Apr 12, 2018 at 22:23

Nick

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4 Comments

Ingus Over a year ago

Any idea why this $search = "/([PAID_JOB])(.*?)([\/PAID_JOB])/"; doesnt work?

Nick Over a year ago

@Ingus you need to escape the [ and ] as they are special characters for regex.

Ingus Over a year ago

That doesnt seems to be working $search = "/(\[tag\])(.*?)(\[\/tag\])/";

Nick Over a year ago

@Ingus if you are having problems, ask a question. Comments are not the place for this.

vasco.randolph · Accepted Answer · 2019-12-08 08:26:47Z

2

function replace_all_text_between($str, $start, $end, $replacement) {

    $replacement = $start . $replacement . $end;

    $start = preg_quote($start, '/');
    $end = preg_quote($end, '/');
    $regex = "/({$start})(.*?)({$end})/";

    return preg_replace($regex,$replacement,$str);
}

answered Dec 8, 2019 at 8:26

vasco.randolph

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