convert url to links

[gdfhghjdfghgfhf]

i'm trying to convert all URL to links

 

i'm currently using this code:

 

<?php
$str = "http://www.i-want-to-convert-this.com <br>
<a href=\"http://www.this-link-is-already-converted.com/i-dont-want-to-convert-it.html\">Don't convert this !</a>";

$str = ereg_replace("[[:alpha:]]+://[^<>[:space:]]+[[:alnum:]/]","<a href=\"\\0\" rel=\"nofollow\">\\0</a>", $str); 

echo $str;

?>

 

but this code is also converting URL that are already linked with the <a href> tag

 

can someone help me to modify this code to convert only URL without the <a href> tag ??

 

thanks a lot!

[monkeytooth]

I'm not entirely that great with regex. But I think if you build a regex statement to find the structure of a url be it ftp, irc, mailto, http, https.. and the like.. or multiple regex types to run through for each specific type of structure. Then if found take that bit of the string and wrap a link tag around it. Its just a random thought off my head but im thinking regex is more likely your best route to go.

[gdfhghjdfghgfhf]

i already have a code to do that... problem is that it will also convert existing links

[gdfhghjdfghgfhf]

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