[SOLVED] Can I use preg_replace for this?

[mhuggins]

I have a situation where I have a text variable like this:

 

var $sentence = "_ went to the _ and _ a _.

 

I also have an array with the same number of elements as there are blanks (underscores) in the above sentence.  Something like this:

 

var $words = array('George', 'store', 'bought', 'sandwich');

 

Normally I could use preg_replace to replace the blanks with a string of text, but this is typically assuming the text you're replacing with will always be the same.  Since the text I'm replacing with changes from match to match, I'm not sure how to approach this.  I appreciate any suggestions!

 

Edit: Sorry mods, I put this in the wrong forum.  If someone could move it, I'd appreciate it.  Sorry!!

[JacobYaYa]

Are you saying the sentence and the words in the array will be different every time?

[mhuggins]

Are you saying the sentence and the words in the array will be different every time?

The sentence will be the same, it's the blanks in the one sentence I'm replacing.  The words will vary from blank to blank.

[pocobueno1388]

If you made each blank different, you could use str_replace.

 

You could number each blank like this

_1_ went to the _2_ and _3_ a _4_

 

Then the code would look like this

 

<?php

$phrase  = "_1_ went to the _2_ and _3_ a _4_";
$replace = array("_1_", "_2_", "_3_", "_4_");
$replacer   = array('George', 'store', 'bought', 'sandwich');

$newphrase = str_replace($replace, $replacer, $phrase);

echo $phrase;
echo '<br>'.$newphrase;

?>

[mhuggins]

I thought of that, but I was hoping to do it without numbering the blanks if possible.  If I have to, I will probably end up doing it that way though.  Thanks for the input

[effigy]

<pre>
<?php
$sentence = "_ went to the _ and _ a _.";
$words = array('George', 'store', 'bought', 'sandwich');

function callback () {
	global $words;
	static $index = -1;
	++$index;
	return $words[$index];
}

echo preg_replace_callback('/_/', 'callback', $sentence);
?>
</pre>

[pocobueno1388]

This function may be an embarrassment compared to effigy's method, but here it is.

 

<?php

function transform($phrase, $replacer){

   $phrase = explode(' ', $phrase);
   
   $i=0;
   foreach ($phrase as $word){
      if ($word == '_'){
         $word = str_replace('_', $replacer[$i], $word);
         $i++;
      }
      
      $newphrase .= $word.' ';
   }

return $newphrase;
}

?>

 

To use

<?php

$phrase  = "_ went to the _ and _ a _";
$replacer   = array('George', 'store', 'bought', 'sandwich');

$var = transform($phrase, $replacer);
echo $var;

?>

[mhuggins]

@effigy - It's funny you mentioned that possibility, as I actually stumbled across preg_replace_callback yesterday and thought of the exact same solution.  I haven't implemented it though since I may need to do the same thing with a second sentence, which would incorrectly offset the array index the second time around.

 

@pocobueno1388 - Unfortunately I can't use that, as it won't work when I come across punctuation.  For example, the end of the sentence in my original post ended with "_.", and your method would not replace it correctly.

[effigy]

I haven't implemented it though since I may need to do the same thing with a second sentence, which would incorrectly offset the array index the second time around.

 

How about using another global, similar to how $words is working?

[mhuggins]

I suppose that could work too.  Also, I'll use /\b_\b/ in case other words contain underscores for any reason.