PHP advice for search and replace

[jwhite68]

I want to find a way, whereby I can detect any occurence of a text string in a variable (lets say $desc), that occurs immediately after a </UL> and insert a start and end <P></P> around that text string (immediately after the </UL>.  Can anyone advise how I could achieve this using something like preg_replace?

 

eg. If the source text is:

 

This is a test. <br />
Heres a car. <br />
<UL><br />
<LI>Point 1<br />
<LI>Point 2<br />
<LI>Point 3</LI></UL>This is my text string.

 

So I want the output to be:

 

This is a test. <br />
Heres a car. <br />
<UL><br />
<LI>Point 1<br />
<LI>Point 2<br />
<LI>Point 3</LI></UL><P>This is my text string.</P>

 

But it needs to make this change wherever it finds this occurence of a text string after a </UL>.

 

[jwhite68]

Oh, and if it detects a BR tag (with and without /) after the </UL> it should ignore, and still spot the text string afterwards.