Replace names in text with links

Question

I want to replace names in a text with a link to there profile.

$text = "text with names in it (John) and Jacob.";
$namesArray("John", "John Plummer", "Jacob", etc...);
$LinksArray("<a href='/john_plom'>%s</a>", "<a href='/john_plom'>%s</a>", "<a href='/jacob_d'>%s</a>", etc..);
//%s shout stay the the same as the input of the $text.

But if necessary a can change de array.

I now use 2 arrays in use str_replace. like this $text = str_replace($namesArray, $linksArray, $text); but the replace shout work for name with a "dot" or ")" or any thing like that on the end or beginning. How can i get the replace to work on text like this.

The output shout be "text with names in it (<a.....>John</a>) and <a ....>Jacob</a>."

Answer 1

Try something like

$name = 'John';
$new_string = preg_replace('/[^ \t]?'.$name.'[^ \t]/', $link, $old_string);

PHP's preg_replace accepts mixed pattern and subject, in other words, you can provide an array of patterns like this and an array of replacements.

Answer 2

Look for regular expressions. Something like preg_replace().

preg_replace('/\((' . implode('|', $names)  . ')\)/', 'link_to_$1', $text);

Note that this solution takes the array of names, not just one name.

Answer 3

Here is an example for a single name, you would need to repeat this for every element in your array:

$name = "Jacob";
$url = "<a href='/jacob/'>$1</a>";
$text = preg_replace("/\b(".preg_quote($name, "/").")\b/", $url, $text);

Answer 4

Done, and no regex:

$text = "text with names in it (John) and Jacob.";
$name_link = array("John" => "<a href='/john_plom'>", 
  "Jacob" => "<a href='/jacob'>"); 
foreach ($name_link as $name => $link) {
  $tmp = explode($name, $text);
  if (count($tmp) > 1) {
    $newtext = array($tmp[0], $link, $name, "</a>",$tmp[1]);
    $text = implode($newtext);
  }
}
echo $text;

The links will never change for each given input, so I'm not sure whether I understood your question. But I have tested this and it works for the given string. To extend it just add more entries to the $name_link array.