Str_replace for multiple items

Question

I remember doing this before, but can't find the code. I use str_replace to replace one character like this: str_replace(':', ' ', $string); but I want to replace all the following characters \/:*?"<>|, without doing a str_replace for each.

Solution 1

str_replace() can take an array, so you could do:

$new_str = str_replace(str_split('\\/:*?"<>|'), ' ', $string);

Alternatively you could use preg_replace():

$new_str = preg_replace('~[\\\\/:*?"<>|]~', ' ', $string);

Solution 2

Like this:

str_replace(array(':', '\\', '/', '*'), ' ', $string);

Or, in modern PHP (anything from 5.4 onwards), the slighty less wordy:

str_replace([':', '\\', '/', '*'], ' ', $string);

Solution 3

For example, if you want to replace search1 with replace1 and search2 with replace2 then following code will work:

print str_replace(
    array("search1","search2"),
    array("replace1", "replace2"),
    "search1 search2"
);

// Output: replace1 replace2

Solution 4

str_replace(
    array("search","items"),
    array("replace", "items"),
    $string
);

Solution 5

If you're only replacing single characters, you should use strtr()

View more solutions

Comments

[GreenMatt]

Assuming the OP meant that the backslash should be replaced, that preg_replace pattern didn't work for me. To get the backslash to work as expected, I had to use 4 of them (i.e. "\\\\") in the pattern.

[Jimmy Kane]

Single characters only? How come?

[Bradmage]

Good answer, adding @dogbert answer in would make it complete for the people who don't read the manual and don't realise str_split returns an array.

[mickmackusa]

Too much escaping inside the character class. (see accepted answer)

[aronmoshe_m]

What's the advantage of str_replace() over preg_replace() (or vice-versa) in the OP's case?

[NullUserException]

@ludditedev No real advantage either way, it's just a matter of preference

[Madhur Bhaiya]

@NullUserException let's say I want to remove all these characters: +->< . Based on your answer, I tried: preg_replace('~[\\+-><]~', '', $s); . But it is removing the digits also (0-9). What is wrong ? Demo at: 3v4l.org/inS5W

[NullUserException]

@MadhurBhaiya Change the regex to '~[\\+><-]~' (note where the - is). The dash (-) is a regex metacharacter, so it needs to escaped or strategically placed in the character class (everything inside []). See this answer: stackoverflow.com/a/7604888/396458