How can I replace part of a string, when that part and the replacement both include special characters? e.g.
$text = "|123|12|12|";
$text = preg_replace("|0|","|12|",$text, 1);
echo($text);
Desired output: "|123|0|12|"
The special characters don't matter as long as they are preserved. E.g.
$text = "#123#12#12#";
$text = preg_replace("#0#","#12#",$text, 1);
echo($text);
Desired output: "#123#0#12#"
Any ideas?
Use str_replace instead of preg_replace if you don't need regexp. It's more efficient and avoids the need to escape anything.
If you need to use preg_replace (for instance to take advantage of the fact that you can specify a limit for the number of replacements, unlike with str_replace), use preg_quote to escape the special characters.
preg_replace, actually.The | acts as the marker for the start of the regex. You're quite close really:
$text = "|123|12|12|";
$text = preg_replace("/|0|/","|12|",$text, 1);
echo($text);
Here I used / as the start and end-markers. You can use any character. / is quite common.
Note that str_replace would also suffice here
/ (which is the most common). Your pattern doesn't have those. But with that fixed, you're trying to find |0| (which doesn't exist in the string). Reverse the |0| and |12|, and you're a tiny bit closer (but you'll still have problems with the last |12| getting replaced as well).Your pattern needs escapement,because the '|' is a special char in reg rules. Use '\' to escape your char, and then use '/' as the delimiter of your pattern. Try this. :)
$text = "|123|12|12|";
$text = preg_replace("/\|12\|/","|0|",$text, 1);
echo($text);
EDIT: BTY, I guess you want to replace the first '|12|' with '|0|', but your code makes me puzzled. The function preg_replace's statement is as below:
mixed preg_replace ( mixed $pattern , mixed $replacement , mixed $subject [, int $limit = -1 [, int &$count ]] )
Searches subject for matches to pattern and replaces them with replacement.
Maybe you had put the parameters in wrong places.
See more about preg_replace: http://cn.php.net/manual/en/function.preg-replace.php
