Remove a specific link using PHP preg_replace

Question

what is the best way to replace a string like this using preg_replace:

<a class="left" href="javascript:goBack()">Back</a>

It is an exact string that appears in many places, and I need it gone. I have tried preg_replace('#<a class="left" href="javascript:goBack()">Back</a>#','',$str);

and preg_replace('#<a class="left" href="javascript:goBack\$\$">Back<\\/a>#','',$str) but no joy.

any help gratefully received.

phihag · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-02 23:05:05Z

3

There is absolutely no need to use preg_replace if you know the exact string you want to match. Use str_replace:

$str=str_replace('<a class="left" href="javascript:goBack()">Back</a>','', $str);

answered Mar 2, 2011 at 23:05

phihag

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2 Comments

Liam Bailey Over a year ago

Hi guys,I got the impression that str_replace may be phased out, is this not the case?

phihag Over a year ago

@Liam Bailey Not at all. Somebody completely misunderstood something. str_replace is a core method and will almost certainly stay forever. Google codesearch alone can find 280000 scripts that use it, so removing it would lead to greater incompatibilities than updating from php3 to php6.

jeroen · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-02 23:05:46Z

1

Why don´t you just use str_replace()?

answered Mar 2, 2011 at 23:05

jeroen

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Comments

RoUS · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-02 23:41:26Z

0

If there's a reason to use preg_replace instead of str_replace, try this:

preg_replace('#\Q<a class="left" href="javascript:goBack()">Back</a>\E#','',$str);

That will cause any metacharacters (like the ( and ) in the string :-) ) to be treated as normal characters devoid of their special meanings.

answered Mar 2, 2011 at 23:41

RoUS

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