PREG_REPLACE different from PREG_MATCH_ALL? 1

[SCelia]

Ok see if you can understand this:

$main_page_data is mixed html/php code like your average php webpage.

//notice these use the exact same pattern...
preg_match_all (&quot;/<\?(.+?)\?>/s&quot;,$main_page_data,$matches);

preg_replace (&quot;/<\?(.+?)\?>/s&quot;,'<BREAK>',$main_page_data);

$main_page_data = $main_page_data.'<BREAK>';

//this failed, php code was not replaced
echo $main_page_data;

//this worked, all the php code is printed out perfectly
foreach ($matches[1] as $match) {

highlight_string('<?'.$match.'?>');
echo &quot;\n<br><br><br>\n&quot;;

}


Why the discrepency?
Celia

 

[sleipnir214]

You're using preg_replace wrong. It doesn't just change the input string. It makes a copy of the string and outputs it with changes if its patterns match.

Instead of:

preg_replace (&quot;/<\?(.+?)\?>/s&quot;,'<BREAK>',$main_page_data);

try:

$main_page_data = preg_replace (&quot;/<\?(.+?)\?>/s&quot;,'<BREAK>',$main_page_data);

 

[SCelia]

haha

That's got to be one of the stupider things I've done!

Thanks. Celia

 

[sleipnir214]

Don't feel bad. Care to guess how I spotted the problem so quickly?


If you guessed that it's because I fought the same problem once for 6 hours before I noticed the return type of the function, you'd be correct.

 

[SCelia]

lol well atleast I didn't spend 6 hours on it I asked the experts . Celia