Can I get away with preg_replace() here or do I need to use preg_split()?

Question

I need to split (but not preg_split()) my title on /, : or whitespace, in that order. For example, if I split on /, then I don't want to bother looking for : or whitespace.

I thought I could do it with a regex (the input string here will never have HTML in it)

$delimiters = array('/', ':', '\s');

$title = preg_replace('@(' . implode('|', $delimiters) . ')(.*)$@', '$1 <span>$2</span>', $title, 1);

The regex I have will match the first space, and not bother with the others. This is not what I want.

Obviously I could strpos() for the other characters (: and /) and remove the \s from the delimiters if it found the others. This will solve the first problem.

I also want to pick the furthest right match, i.e. if splitting a sentence on whitespace, I want the last word to be matched.

Do I need to use preg_split() here, and preserver the delimiter or can I do it with one regex?

Thanks

Answer 1

While I was waiting to be answered, I came up with this, and it works!

$delimiters = array('/', ':');

if ( ! preg_match('@(?:' . implode('|', $delimiters) . ')@', $title)) {
   $delimiters[] = '\s';
}

$tokens = preg_split('@(' . implode('|', $delimiters) . ')@', $title, NULL, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);

$tokens[count($tokens) - 1] = '<span>' . end($tokens) . '</span>'; 

$title = implode($tokens);

Answer 2

Well, here's another one:

function alexify($title) {
    $delimiters = array('/', ':', '\s');

    $regex = '@(' . implode('|', $delimiters) . ')([^' . implode($delimiters) . ']*)$@';
    $title = preg_replace($regex, '$1<span>$2</span>', $title, 1);

    return $title;
}

It appears to produce the same output as your function: http://ideone.com/HVeh5

EDIT: It actually produces different output for the 3rd string. I don't know which one is supposed to be the right one.