preg_replace problem

[gilgalbiblewhee]

WHen it comes to highlighting I use the preg_replace. But I'm getting the problem that the tags wrap around every single letter rather than the word intended to highlight:

PHP Code:

$strText = $row['text_data'];
$strText = preg_replace("/(".$newSearchTheseArr[$j].")/i", "<span class='' id='' style='color:blue; font-weight:bold;'>$1</span>", $strText);
echo $strText."<br />\n"; 


[curtiss]

Can you show us an example of what value might be held in $newSearchTheseArr[$j]? I have a feeling you'd be better off using str_replace instead of preg_replace, since it appears you're searching the text for a specific string.

[gilgalbiblewhee]

I was reworking on the scripting.

I think I know what it's doing though I did these changes. I put these outside the While loop:

PHP Code:

function highlight ( $str, $words )
        {
            if ( is_array( $words ) ) {
                $words = array_map( 'preg_quote', $words );
                $words = join( $words, '|' );
            } else {
                $words = preg_quote( (string)$words );
            }
            
            $re = '<span style="color:blue;font-weight:bold;">$1</span>';
            return preg_replace( '/\b(' . $words . ')\b/i', $re, $str );
        }
        function thewords(){
            for ($j=0; $j < count($newSearchTheseArr); $j++){
                echo $newSearchTheseArr[$j].", ";
            }
        } 


I created thewords function to set the array of words (does it work this way?)

Then:

PHP Code:

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
        echo "<span id='regular[]' style='padding: 5px;'>";
        echo "<span style='font-weight: bold;'>".$row["book_title"]." ".$row["chapter"].":".$row["verse"]." ";
        echo "</span>\n";    

        $words = array(thewords());
        $str   = $row['text_data'];
        
        var_dump( highlight( $str, $words ) );
        echo "<br />\n";
} 


I get the words outside the span tags:

shall<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>be
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>called
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>Woman
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>, 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>because
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>she
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>was
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>taken
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>out
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>of
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span> 
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>Man
<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;"></span>."