I want to use codeigniter foreign character library in my custom PHP project how i can use it?

Question

this is array of foreign characters how I can use it in my own project.

$foreign_characters = array(
'/ä|æ|ǽ/' => 'ae',
'/ö|œ/' => 'oe',
'/ü/' => 'ue',
'/Ä/' => 'Ae',
'/Ü/' => 'Ue',
'/Ö/' => 'Oe',
'/À|Á|Â|Ã|Ä|Å|Ǻ|Ā|Ă|Ą|Ǎ|Α|Ά|Ả|Ạ|Ầ|Ẫ|Ẩ|Ậ|Ằ|Ắ|Ẵ|Ẳ|Ặ|А/' => 'A',
'/à|á|â|ã|å|ǻ|ā|ă|ą|ǎ|ª|α|ά|ả|ạ|ầ|ấ|ẫ|ẩ|ậ|ằ|ắ|ẵ|ẳ|ặ|а/' => 'a',
);

if u get ä than replace with ae ???? – devpro Jan 26 '16 at 07:46 — devpro, Jan 26 '16 at 07:46
yes exactly it should replace with ae – Junaid Jan 26 '16 at 08:06 — Junaid, Jan 26 '16 at 08:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:09

Well, your array already has the perfect format to use with preg_replace().

Substitution can easily be done by looping over your array and calling preg_replace() once for every set of chars like this:

foreach( $foreign_characters as $replace => $with )
{
    $string = preg_replace($replace, $with, $string);
}

Thats basically all you need.

To make things more convenient and easy to use, have a look at this replacement class:

class Replacer
{
    /**
     * List of character replacements
     */
    static $foreign_characters = array(
        '/ä|æ|ǽ/' => 'ae',
        '/ö|œ/' => 'oe',
        '/ü/' => 'ue',
        '/Ä/' => 'Ae',
        '/Ü/' => 'Ue',
        '/Ö/' => 'Oe',
        '/À|Á|Â|Ã|Ä|Å|Ǻ|Ā|Ă|Ą|Ǎ|Α|Ά|Ả|Ạ|Ầ|Ẫ|Ẩ|Ậ|Ằ|Ắ|Ẵ|Ẳ|Ặ|А/' => 'A',
        '/à|á|â|ã|å|ǻ|ā|ă|ą|ǎ|ª|α|ά|ả|ạ|ầ|ấ|ẫ|ẩ|ậ|ằ|ắ|ẵ|ẳ|ặ|а/' => 'a',
        );

    /**
     * Replaces all foreign characters listed in 
     * self::$foreign_characters with their given counterparts
     * @param $string string to replace characters in
     */
    public static function replace_chars_in($string)
    {
        foreach( self::$foreign_characters as $replace => $with )
        {
            $string = preg_replace($replace, $with, $string);
        }

        return $string;
    }
}

I decided to create a class, because it provides an easy way to handle your replacements, and you can improve the functionality without any effort. I used a static function, so you do not need to instantiate it, the replacement would simply be done by calling Replacer::replace_chars_in();. Try this:

echo Replacer::replace_chars_in("äÄfäüädasÖäǽasd");

it will output: aeAefaeueaedasOeaeaeasd

If you are unfamiliar with regular expressions, have a read of the PHP reference. There you can find a detailed explanation on how they work.

This post on character replacement and the strtr function might interest you as well.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 22 '22 at 20:29

Use convert_accented_characters() function in Text Helper. https://codeigniter.com/userguide3/helpers/text_helper.html

function convert_accented_characters($str)
{
    static $array_from, $array_to;

    if ( ! is_array($array_from))
    {
        if (file_exists(APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars.php'))
        {
            include(APPPATH.'config/foreign_chars.php');
        }

        if (file_exists(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/foreign_chars.php'))
        {
            include(APPPATH.'config/'.ENVIRONMENT.'/foreign_chars.php');
        }

        if (empty($foreign_characters) OR ! is_array($foreign_characters))
        {
            $array_from = array();
            $array_to = array();

            return $str;
        }

        $array_from = array_keys($foreign_characters);
        $array_to = array_values($foreign_characters);
    }

    return preg_replace($array_from, $array_to, $str);
}

I want to use codeigniter foreign character library in my custom PHP project how i can use it?

2 Answers2