ereg_replace question -- replace a predefined number of characters?!

[johnwayne77]

i was wondering what this line does:

 

$src = ereg_replace('<font color="([^"]*)">', '<span style="color: \1">', ob_get_contents());

 

the dilema is on the <font color="([^"]*)">   part.

 

does that refers to replacing a predefined number of characters in the brackets?

 

i would appreciate an explanation on the entire syntx and more on the "^" and "*" options.

 

thanks

[effigy]

( ### Start capture

[^"]* ### Match any character that is not a double quote 0 or more times.

) ### End capture

The [ ]'s indicate a character class. See the links in my signature for more information.