preg_replace removes also line breaks when only spaces are asked to be removed

Question

When I try to remove multiple spaces from a string by using this code

preg_replace('/\s{2,}/', ' ', $data)
I notice that also line breaks are removed.

When I use a space character in the syntax instead of a \s, then everything works normally.

So I'm wondering why do we have this behavior and what is happening?

Search about what `\s` means exactly. Try to use `\h` instead. — Casimir et Hippolyte, Oct 24 '16 at 14:52
\s is whitespace, tab and newline usually, so that's the correct result — Damien Pirsy, Oct 24 '16 at 14:53
Possible duplicate of [Reference - What does this regex mean?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22937618/reference-what-does-this-regex-mean) — Wiktor Stribiżew, Oct 24 '16 at 14:58
I never thought that line breaks are considered as white space characters. Anyway, that's the answer — user3292788, Oct 24 '16 at 15:03

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 24 '16 at 14:57

1

\s matches a whitespace character. From PCRE:

The default \s characters are HT (9), LF (10), VT (11), FF (12), CR (13), and space (32), which are defined as white space in the "C" locale.

Emphasis mine.

answered Oct 24 '16 at 14:57

noahnu

1 Answers1