Hi is there anyway to check a string for any instances of something like this
“(3)” where the number “3” could be any integer. So basically I want to search a string for any instances of a integer in brackets “(integer)” and remove it.
So my string was something like
[php]$string = “String (2) string string string (7)”
function($string)[/php]
output would be “String string string string”
where there integers in brackets could be any number
A good place to start would be to look at regular expressions. These allow you to define patterns and then search for them or replace them inside of a string.
Regular expressions can get very complicated, so I’ll provide a working one for you then try to explain it. Saying this, it would be much better for you to look at them and have a go at learning some yourself as they are an invaluable skill for a (PHP) programmer.
The expression is:
/\([0-9]\)/The two / symbols start and end the expression.
The \ symbol escapes the round bracket (removing its meaning in the regular expression). This means it gets taken into account as a round bracket, not as what a round bracket means inside of a regular expression.
The [ ] (square brackets) define a set of characters we’re looking for.
The 0-9 says, look for numbers from zero to nine.
To use this, we will use the preg_replace function in PHP. It accepts three arguments:
[php]$string = “String (2) string string string (7)”;
$string = preg_replace(’/([0-9])/’, ‘’, $string);
echo($string);[/php]
This produces the output of:
String string string stringHave a look at:
www (dot) regular-expressions (dot) info/quickstart.html
For more information.