I have some strings as follows:
99-01[10-10-2010]
59-06[11-12-2016]
So long so good.
What I need, is via PHP and regular expression, replace any character before that first hiffen (-), for some text, only the first. Staying for example
ALL-01[10-10-2010]
ALL-06[11-12-2016]
Can anyone help me?
Use the preg_replace() function to make the substitution with a /\d+-/ regex, the important part is to enter the fourth argument that is the number of substitutes that will be made.
\d+- means to find in the string one or more digits followed by a dash anywhere in the string.
<?php
$str = '99-01[10-10-2010] ALL-06[11-12-2016]';
$str = preg_replace('/\d+-/', 'ALL-', $str, 1);
echo $str;
If string has multiple rows you can solve it differently, taking only the specified pattern at the beginning of each line with the s .
<?php
$str = "99-01[10-10-2010]
59-06[11-12-2016]
99[333]
3333-ABC[99]88-XX";
$str = preg_replace('/^\d+-/s', 'ALL-', $str);
echo $str;
I know you asked for a RegEx , and @rray posted the solution that does exactly what you requested (and that has already taken my +1). Anyway I find it important to comment that PHP already has a solution made as a glove for your specific case, and does not need RegEx .
Just this, clean and short of writing:
'ALL'.strstr( '99-01[10-10-2010]', '-' );
An example code:
$s = '99-01[10-10-2010]';
echo 'ALL'.strstr( $s, '-' );
Iterating an array :
$strings = array(
'99-01[10-10-2010]',
'29-02[10-11-2011]',
'95-03[10-12-2013]',
'88-04[10-10-2015]',
'59-06[11-12-2016]'
);
foreach( $strings as $s ) echo 'ALL'.strstr( $s, '-' );
See working at IDEONE .