[SOLVED] tough one -- replace "&" with "&"

[michaellunsford]

I want to search through an array and replace every isolated occurance of "&" with "&" -- the catch is, I don't want to replace encoded characters, like   & etc.

I can build an expression that does the exact opposite -- but having trouble the other way around. Here's "the opposite":

[code]<?php
$blah=array('bob & brenda', 'bob &amp; brenda', 'bob &nbsp; brenda&nbsp;');
do {
echo preg_replace("*&[A-Za-z]{2,4};*","&nbsp;",current($blah))."\n";
}while(next($blah));
?>[/code]

[effigy]

Assuming that all &'s should be followed by whitespace of some kind: [tt]/&(?=\s+)/[/tt]

[michaellunsford]

Sometimes it's not... Like "B&H Photo"

[michaellunsford]

HA got it ;D

[code]"/&(?![A-Za-z]{2,5};)/"[/code]

[michaellunsford]

revised: should now also correctly identify decimal and hexadecimal numeric character references:

 

"/&(?![A-Za-z#0-9]{2,6};)/"