how can I replace [link](#) to <a href=“#”>link</a>?

Question

I want to do something like stackoverflow . actually changing this style []() to this style <a href=""></a> . here is my try:

$str = '[link](#)';
$str = str_replace('[','<a href="',$str);     // output: <a href="link](#)
$str = str_replace(']','">',$str);            // output: <a href="link">(#)
$str = str_replace('(','',$str);              // output: <a href="link">#)
$str = str_replace(')','</a>',$str);          // output: <a href="link">#</a>

but now, I need to change link with # , how can I do that ?

Answer 1

You want to take a look at preg_replace() , with this you can use a regex to replace it, eg

$str = preg_replace("/\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)\)/", "<a href='$2'>$1</a>", $str);

regex explanation:

\[(.*?)\]\((.*?)\)

• \\[ matches the character [ literally
• 1st Capturing group (.*?)
  • .*? matches any character (except newline)
    • Quantifier: *? Between zero and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed [lazy]
• \\] matches the character ] literally
• \\( matches the character ( literally
• 2nd Capturing group (.*?)
  • .*? matches any character (except newline)
    • Quantifier: *? Between zero and unlimited times, as few times as possible, expanding as needed [lazy]
• \\) matches the character ) literally