Replace Once

Mon, 2007/06/18 - 09:11 — Jamie

str_replace is a great function for finding words and replacing them with a chunk of text. However, I was seeking to find just one instance of a word and replace it. I knew that there are more instances but I just need to change one.

To this end, after lots of searching, I found this snippet on surprise surprise - the php manual. Full credit as far as I can tell goes to xinobit at gmail dot com. Hope this helps someone.

<?php
function str_replace_count($search,$replace,$subject,$times) {
 
    $subject_original=$subject;
   
    $len=strlen($search);   
    $pos=0;
    for ($i=1;$i<=$times;$i++) {
        $pos=strpos($subject,$search,$pos);
       
        if($pos!==false) {               
            $subject=substr($subject_original,0,$pos);
            $subject.=$replace;
            $subject.=substr($subject_original,$pos+$len);
            $subject_original=$subject;
        } else {
            break;
        }
    }
   
    return($subject);
 
}
/* Example usage */
$w="abracadabra";
print str_replace_count("abra","----",$w,2);
?>