On 20 September 2007 11:34, Edward Kay wrote: > > > Hi everyone, > > > > > > I want to highlight (bold) searchterms in text. > > > For example, for all words starting with "ethyl": > > > a) replace "ethyl" by "<b>ethyl</b>" > > > b) replace "Ethyl" by "<b>Ethyl</b>" > > > c) replace "ethylene" by "<b>ethylene</b>" > > > d) but not "methyl" by "<b>methyl</b>" > > > > > > Now I use: > > > $patterns[0] = "/ethyl/"; > > > $replacements[0] = "<b>ethyl</b>"; > > > $text = preg_replace($patterns, $replacements, $text); > > > > > > This works for a) and c), but not for b) and d). > > > Any idea how to do this ? > > > > > > TIA, Cor > > > > > > > Thanks Deniz, > > > > I tried pattern /^ethyl/i but this does not highlight anything. > > I also tried pattern /ethyl/i and this highlights all, but also > > methyl ... Any suggestion ? > > > > Yes, the i pattern modifier makes the search > case-insensitive, which is what > you want. > > The carat ^ means start of string, so would only word if the pattern > was at the beginning of the line - not what you want. > > Try something like this: > > /(\s|>)ethyl(\s|<)/i > > The \s means whitespace so (\s|>) means only match if ethyl > is preceded by > whitespace or >, i.e. a closing tag. Or you could try the \W character class which means any "non-word" character, or possibly even better the \b assertion which means word boundary. Cheers! Mike --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mike Ford, Electronic Information Services Adviser, JG125, The Headingley Library, James Graham Building, Leeds Metropolitan University, Headingley Campus, LEEDS, LS6 3QS, United Kingdom Email: m.ford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tel: +44 113 812 4730 Fax: +44 113 812 3211 To view the terms under which this email is distributed, please go to http://disclaimer.leedsmet.ac.uk/email.htm -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
