PHP: Replace the content between two characters, in multiple occurrences

Question

I'm trying to replace the contents between some "special" characters, in each of their occurrences. For example, let's say i have that string:

<div><small>static content</small><small>[special content type 3]</small> 
<small>static content</small><small>[special content type 4]</small></div>

I would like to replace each "special content", between square brackets, with something that is represented by this "identifier"(let's say, some "widget").

I've tried this code from Stackoverflow:

$search = "/[^<tag>](.*)[^<\/tag>]/";
$replace = "your new inner text";
$string = "<tag>i dont know what is here</tag>";
echo preg_replace($search,$replace,$string);

This works, but only for the first occurrence. I need this operation to be repeated across the entire string.

I've also tried this one:

echo preg_replace('/<div class="username">.+?</div>/im', '<div 
class="username">Special Username<\/div>', $string) ;

It gives me a "Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier 'd' in Standard input code on line 8" error.

Any ideas?

sth like this: https://regex101.com/r/geF7pU/1/ `\[([^\]]*)\]` ? — mrzasa, Apr 12 '18 at 22:00
If you are parsing HTML, use a DOM parser instead of regex. The `m` pattern modifier doesn't do anything in your coding attempt. — mickmackusa, Jul 09 '22 at 13:50
Please don't try [answers which have comments under them saying that the answer us 100% incorrect](https://stackoverflow.com/a/6875963/2943403). — mickmackusa, Feb 03 '23 at 12:09

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 12 '18 at 22:23

2

Your code from stackoverflow needs minor changes:

$search = "/(<tag>)(.*?)(<\/tag>)/";
$replace = '$1your new inner text$3';
$string = "<tag>i dont know what is here</tag> some text <tag>here's another one</tag>";
echo preg_replace($search,$replace,$string);

answered Apr 12 '18 at 22:23

Nick

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Any idea why this `$search = "/([PAID_JOB])(.*?)([\/PAID_JOB])/";` doesnt work? – Ingus Oct 15 '19 at 05:53
@Ingus you need to escape the `[` and `]` as they are special characters for regex. – Nick Oct 15 '19 at 05:55
That doesnt seems to be working `$search = "/(\[tag\])(.*?)(\[\/tag\])/";` – Ingus Oct 15 '19 at 07:19
@Ingus if you are having problems, ask a question. Comments are not the place for this. – Nick Oct 15 '19 at 07:20

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 08 '19 at 08:26

function replace_all_text_between($str, $start, $end, $replacement) {

    $replacement = $start . $replacement . $end;

    $start = preg_quote($start, '/');
    $end = preg_quote($end, '/');
    $regex = "/({$start})(.*?)({$end})/";

    return preg_replace($regex,$replacement,$str);
}

PHP: Replace the content between two characters, in multiple occurrences

2 Answers2

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