php preg_replace regex replace string between two string

Question

I have the following problem: I want to replace (in php) a special character, but only if it's between two other characters. It tried to find a solution with with preg_replace but it doesn't work.

I want to replace every ; with a : which is between the " The Examples:

$orig_string= 'asbas;"asd;";asd;asdadasd;"asd;adsas"'

result should be:

'asbas;"asd:";asd;asdadasd;"asd:adsas"'

I tried several regexes but without any succes...

Two examples i tried:

$result = preg_replace('(?<=\")(.*)(;)(.*)(?=\")',':', $str);

$result = preg_replace('.*\".*(;).*\"',':', $str);

Can anybody help me?

Thanks a lot

V

Are the texts between two " some special texts that have a special meaning? Therefor @nu11p01n73R 's solution would not work correctly, as it doesn't take in account, that in the first part there could already be a " without a following ; — Roland Bär
– Roland Bär, Commented Jan 27, 2015 at 12:06

Avinash Raj · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-27 12:23:52Z

4

You need not use look arounds here. It can be written as

("[^";]*);([^"]*")

replace with \1:\2

Regex Demo

Test

preg_replace ("/(\"[^\";]*);([^\"]*\")/m", "\\1:\\2", 'asbas;"asd;";asd;asdadasd;"asd;adsas"' );
=> asbas;"asd:";asd;asdadasd;"asd:adsas"

Update:

;(?!(?:"[^"]*"|[^"])*$)

Just replace the matched ; with :

DEMO

edited Jan 27, 2015 at 12:23

Avinash Raj

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answered Jan 27, 2015 at 11:53

nu11p01n73R

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5 Comments

Avinash Raj Over a year ago

:-) not mistakenly. Revert it back if you don't want ... no, don't do that.

Avinash Raj Over a year ago

not the good answer. It's the right answer because your's will fail if more than one semi colons present inside the quotes..

Der_V Over a year ago

Great, the last one works for me, that was exactly what i'm looking for!! Thank you very much. It seemed to be that i'm not that fimiliar with all regex-Expression as I thought ;) And i tried to access the matches with "$1:$2" and not with double back slash.... Thanks a lot!

Der_V Over a year ago

Hey, your answer helps me a lot and it works fine up to now... I found a possible combination in which this solution doesn't work correctly... I tried to modify your solution to run all variations but without any success.. If you have the following string 'asbas;asd:;asd;asdadasd;"asd:adsas' the regex replace all ; before the double qoutes... i would expect that the regex do nothing. It should only replace the ; within two double quotes. So i hope you can help me again! Thank's a lot.

mickmackusa Over a year ago

The m pattern modifier is useless if there are no anchors in the pattern -- like ^ or $.

Jonny 5 · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-27 12:28:35Z

1

A simple understandable solution could be the use of preg_replace_callback:

$str = preg_replace_callback('/"[^"]+"/',
       function ($m) { return str_replace(";", ":", $m[0]); },
       $str);

"[^"]+" captures the quoted stuff to $m[0] where ; is replaced by :

See test at eval.in (link will expire soon)

answered Jan 27, 2015 at 12:28

Jonny 5

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Comments

vks · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-27 15:18:19Z

1

;(?=[^"]*"(?:[^"]*"[^"]*")*[^"]*$)

Try this.Replace by :.See demo.

https://www.regex101.com/r/bC8aZ4/16

edited Jan 27, 2015 at 15:18

answered Jan 27, 2015 at 12:13

vks

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Comments

Junius L · Accepted Answer · 2015-01-27 11:58:00Z

-1

What about string replace?

str_ireplace(';";', ':";', $orig_string);

asbas;"asd:";asd;asdadasd;"asd;adsas"

answered Jan 27, 2015 at 11:58

Junius L

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2 Comments

Junius L Over a year ago

In programming there's no one solution for one problem, you give 10 programmers a problem, the approach to the problem will be different with the same results, yet i see you got a thumb down for giving a solution to a problem with a different approach.

Roland Bär Over a year ago

Your Solution replaces only a semicolon if it is followed by a " and another semicolon, but the second occurence in the example is not replaced, as it follows another pattern.

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