Replace [url=URL] regex

Question

looking for a way to remove any text that is

[url=]

That would be easy, but the url itself is a URL I dont have control of.

e.g or urls:

[url=wqffqwfq] [url=qwfwqfqf]

etc.

Looking for a preg replace, currently have this:

$post_text = preg_replace('%\[URL[^\]]*\][^\[\]]*|\[/URL[^\]]*\]%i', '', $post_text);

But that removes the image that comes after the url.

Thanks.

You can also try "@(https?://([-\w\.]+[-\w])+(:\d+)?(/([\w/_\.#-]*(\?\S+)?[^\.\s])?).*$)@";. — avenet
– avenet, Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 23:47
Can you give us an example with the worst situation, meanwhile I think you should try what @charlotte Dunois said. — JC Sama
– JC Sama, Commented Dec 27, 2014 at 23:52

willeM_ Van Onsem · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-27 23:58:12Z

1

I think you use too much escape characters. You can however use lazy capture groups:

$string = '[foo] buz [url=wqffqwfq] qux [bar] foobar [url=qwfwqfqf] faq';
$pattern = '/\[url=(.*?)\]/i';
$replace = '';
$string = preg_replace($pattern,$replace,$string);
//$string = '[foo] buz  qux [bar] foobar  faq';

If the assignment (=) character is optional, you can use the /\[url(.*?)\]/i pattern.

Information: .*? means a non-greedy capture: this means that . is captures, as long as there is no way to escape the group. From the moment it is possible, the regex mechanism escapes the group.

edited Dec 27, 2014 at 23:58

answered Dec 27, 2014 at 23:53

willeM_ Van Onsem

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