[SOLVED] Check for a word and insert a word if not there.

[lynxus]

Hi guys,

 

Probably a simple answer, but not having much luck here.

 

Ive got a bunch of websites in a DB, however some dont start with http://

So when i run an output to a php file, some links dont work as im doing

echo '<a href="'.$website.'">'.$website.'</a>

 

Anyway.

 

Let say:

$var = "google.com";

 

how do i look at $var see that it doesnt start with http:// and then change it so:

$var = "http://google.com";

 

Any thoughts?

 

Thanks

G

[GingerRobot]

You can use the substr function to do what you need. Select the first 7 characters from the string and check if it is equal to "http://"

[vineld]

That will do. If this is part of your own application you should however see to that all values are correct when inserted instead of ending up with this duct tape solution. Every little thing that speeds up your applications will save time, money and the environment.

[thewooleymammoth]

you could also use reg ex if its not necessarily the first 7 chars

 

or you could use stripos()

 

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/function.stripos.php

[ldougherty]

I'd definitely use the substr reference to accomplish what you need now.

 

if (substr('$var',0,4) != 'http') {

$var = 'http://' . $var;

}

 

But as vineld said you should do error checking on your form input to determine if it starts with http:// or not and add it there instead.