How to convert hyphen in text list to HTML list items using PHP?

Question

How can I convert a plain text list into a HTML list using regex in PHP?

Lorem ipsum.

- item 1
- item 2
- item 3
- item 4

Dolores amet.

Into

Lorem ipsum.

<ul>
<li>item1</li>
<li>item2</li>
<li>item3</li>
<li>item4</li>
</ul>

Dolores amet.

Answer 1

1. Regex pattern

   \n\s?-\s?(.*)
   

   example https://regex101.com/r/zQ7xL6/1

2. Getting the matches.

   For getting every match use preg_match_all():

   preg_match_all($pattern, $your_text, $matches);

   Array (
     [0] => Array (
       [0] => 'item 1'
     )
     [1] => Array (
       [0] => 'item 2'
     )
     etc..
    )
   

3. HTML

   Here you can do everything you want with your matches. So let's add some HTML tags.

   $html_text = '';
   foreach($matches as $match) {
     $item = $match[0]; //item 1
     $html_text .= '<li>' . $item . '</li>';
   }
   $html_text = '<ul>' . $html_text . '</ul>';
   

   Output

   <ul>
    <li>item1</li>
    <li>item2</li>
    <li>item3</li>
    <li>item4</li>
   </ul>
   

4. preg_replace way

   For inspiration look here A regex that converts text lists to html in PHP hope I helped you.