Trying to do intelligent replacements

[dontpanic]

I'm trying to use the preg_replace command to do replacements of specific strings with the string as a URL.

An example from what I am using:

$post['message'] = preg_replace('/(70-292)/i', '<a href=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.mcseworld.com/a/1932266569/&quot;[/URL] target=&quot;_blank&quot;>\\1</a>', $post['message']);

This code would thus case the 70-292 string to be replaced with that URL.

I have two issues:

1. I cannot quite figure out how to get ONLY exact matches, no matter where they might appear in the post. I've been reading on this here:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.preg-replace.php

and here:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/pcre.pattern.modifiers.php

2. I think that I will need a if/then loop to prevent the substitution from being made if the string is already encased in <a> or tags, but I am not sure how to go ...information you may need. Thanks in advance!

 

[DRJ478]

Let's try to clarify what you want to replace:

All occurences of 70-292 unless the string is inside an <a href....> tag.

Right?

 

[dontpanic]

Yes, that is correct. I want replace all occurance except that that are already encased in <a> or tags. As an example, it behaves i...rtification to Microsoft Windows Server 2003 [/code]

What I've been able to get thus far would break this URL at the point of &quot;70-292&quot; and perform the replacement on that string. So we'd wind up with one URL for the text up to the string of &quot;70-292&quot; and a second URL for the replacement string. The text after the point of the string would thereafter not be part of a URL.

The desired effect would be to completely ignore this instance of the string.

As another example, say a user posted this:

Be sure to check out the <a href=&quot;[URL unfurl="true"]http://www.microsoft.com/traincert/exams/70-292.asp&quot;[/URL] target=&quot;_blank&quot;>Preparation Guide for Exam 70-292</a>

We would get a slightly different effect. Now this URL would be completely broken and the string would be replaced. I want to completely ignore this instance of the string.

Does this help to clarify what I am after?

Thanks,
Will

 

[DRJ478]

Keep it simple and make 3 steps:

1. Replace all occurences within the offending tags with a munged string
2. Replace all remaining ocurrences
3. Replace all munged items with original

That will be faster than one large expression.