I want a version of str_replace()
that only replaces the first occurrence of $search
in the $subject
. Is there an easy solution to thi
Can be done with preg_replace:
function str_replace_first($from, $to, $content)
{
$from = '/'.preg_quote($from, '/').'/';
return preg_replace($from, $to, $content, 1);
}
echo str_replace_first('abc', '123', 'abcdef abcdef abcdef');
// outputs '123def abcdef abcdef'
The magic is in the optional fourth parameter [Limit]. From the documentation:
[Limit] - The maximum possible replacements for each pattern in each subject string. Defaults to -1 (no limit).
Though, see zombat's answer for a more efficient method (roughly, 3-4x faster).