php复杂查询，删除最后一次出现的字符串和html匹配模式

Question

I have a menu items which gives the output via php to html

<ul class="menu"><li class="item5"><a href="/pgsweb/home.html"><span>Home</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li><li class="item25"><a href="/pgsweb/about-us.html"><span>About Us</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li><li class="item26"><a href="/pgsweb/products.html"><span>Products</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li><li class="item27"><a href="/pgsweb/research-a-development.html"><span>Research &amp; Development</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li><li class="item28"><a href="/pgsweb/careers.html"><span>Careers</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li><li class="item29"><a href="/pgsweb/contact-us.html"><span>Contact Us</span></a></li><li><span><a>  | </a></span></li></ul>

that's the output and desired output is that it should not print the last " <li><span><a> | </a></span></li> "

and that pipe is coming from the database which means it's dynamic and can be replace by - or anything anytime

plus menu items are also dynamic (added/edited/removed)

$this->_buffer .= // code to get the menu name with their link;

Following is the php code to display the pipes after every li

$this->_buffer .= '<li><span><a> ' . $spacer_start . ' </a></span></li>';

I tried to remove that last $this->_buffer by rtrim , but no success ..

please help

Thanks in advance Dave

Answer 1

Can't you prevent the last

$this->_buffer .= '<li><span><a> ' . $spacer_start . ' </a></span></li>';

?

Otherwise remove it with

$this->_buffer = substr($this->_buffer, 0, -$length_of_last_part)

or with

$this->_buffer = preg_replace('#<li><span><a>  \| </a></span></li>$#', '', $this->_buffer);