Using str_replace so that it only acts on the first match?

Question

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

Answer 1

The easiest way would be to use regular expression.

The other way is to find the position of the string with strpos() and then an substr_replace()

But i would really go for the RegExp.

Answer 2

To expand on @renocor's answer, I've written a function that is 100% backward-compatible with str_replace(). That is, you can replace all occurrences of str_replace() with str_replace_limit() without messing anything up, even those using arrays for the $search, $replace, and/or $subject.

The function could be completely self-contained, if you wanted to replace the function call with ($string===strval(intval(strval($string)))), but I'd recommend against it since valid_integer() is a rather useful function when dealing with integers provided as strings.

Note: Whenever possible, str_replace_limit() will use str_replace() instead, so all calls to str_replace() can be replaced with str_replace_limit() without worrying about a hit to performance.

Usage

<?php
$search = 'a';
$replace = 'b';
$subject = 'abcabc';

$limit = -1; // No limit
$new_string = str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $subject, $count, $limit);
echo $count.' replacements -- '.$new_string;

2 replacements -- bbcbbc

$limit = 1; // Limit of 1
$new_string = str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $subject, $count, $limit);
echo $count.' replacements -- '.$new_string;

1 replacements -- bbcabc

$limit = 10; // Limit of 10
$new_string = str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $subject, $count, $limit);
echo $count.' replacements -- '.$new_string;

2 replacements -- bbcbbc

Function

<?php

/**
 * Checks if $string is a valid integer. Integers provided as strings (e.g. '2' vs 2)
 * are also supported.
 * @param mixed $string
 * @return bool Returns boolean TRUE if string is a valid integer, or FALSE if it is not 
 */
function valid_integer($string){
    // 1. Cast as string (in case integer is provided)
    // 1. Convert the string to an integer and back to a string
    // 2. Check if identical (note: 'identical', NOT just 'equal')
    // Note: TRUE, FALSE, and NULL $string values all return FALSE
    $string = strval($string);
    return ($string===strval(intval($string)));
}

/**
 * Replace $limit occurences of the search string with the replacement string
 * @param mixed $search The value being searched for, otherwise known as the needle. An
 * array may be used to designate multiple needles.
 * @param mixed $replace The replacement value that replaces found search values. An
 * array may be used to designate multiple replacements.
 * @param mixed $subject The string or array being searched and replaced on, otherwise
 * known as the haystack. If subject is an array, then the search and replace is
 * performed with every entry of subject, and the return value is an array as well. 
 * @param string $count If passed, this will be set to the number of replacements
 * performed.
 * @param int $limit The maximum possible replacements for each pattern in each subject
 * string. Defaults to -1 (no limit).
 * @return string This function returns a string with the replaced values.
 */
function str_replace_limit(
        $search,
        $replace,
        $subject,
        &$count,
        $limit = -1
    ){

    // Set some defaults
    $count = 0;

    // Invalid $limit provided. Throw a warning.
    if(!valid_integer($limit)){
        $backtrace = debug_backtrace();
        trigger_error('Invalid $limit `'.$limit.'` provided to '.__function__.'() in '.
                '`'.$backtrace[0]['file'].'` on line '.$backtrace[0]['line'].'. Expecting an '.
                'integer', E_USER_WARNING);
        return $subject;
    }

    // Invalid $limit provided. Throw a warning.
    if($limit<-1){
        $backtrace = debug_backtrace();
        trigger_error('Invalid $limit `'.$limit.'` provided to '.__function__.'() in '.
                '`'.$backtrace[0]['file'].'` on line '.$backtrace[0]['line'].'. Expecting -1 or '.
                'a positive integer', E_USER_WARNING);
        return $subject;
    }

    // No replacements necessary. Throw a notice as this was most likely not the intended
    // use. And, if it was (e.g. part of a loop, setting $limit dynamically), it can be
    // worked around by simply checking to see if $limit===0, and if it does, skip the
    // function call (and set $count to 0, if applicable).
    if($limit===0){
        $backtrace = debug_backtrace();
        trigger_error('Invalid $limit `'.$limit.'` provided to '.__function__.'() in '.
                '`'.$backtrace[0]['file'].'` on line '.$backtrace[0]['line'].'. Expecting -1 or '.
                'a positive integer', E_USER_NOTICE);
        return $subject;
    }

    // Use str_replace() whenever possible (for performance reasons)
    if($limit===-1){
        return str_replace($search, $replace, $subject, $count);
    }

    if(is_array($subject)){

        // Loop through $subject values and call this function for each one.
        foreach($subject as $key => $this_subject){

            // Skip values that are arrays (to match str_replace()).
            if(!is_array($this_subject)){

                // Call this function again for
                $this_function = __FUNCTION__;
                $subject[$key] = $this_function(
                        $search,
                        $replace,
                        $this_subject,
                        $this_count,
                        $limit
                );

                // Adjust $count
                $count += $this_count;

                // Adjust $limit, if not -1
                if($limit!=-1){
                    $limit -= $this_count;
                }

                // Reached $limit, return $subject
                if($limit===0){
                    return $subject;
                }

            }

        }

        return $subject;

    } elseif(is_array($search)){
        // Only treat $replace as an array if $search is also an array (to match str_replace())

        // Clear keys of $search (to match str_replace()).
        $search = array_values($search);

        // Clear keys of $replace, if applicable (to match str_replace()).
        if(is_array($replace)){
            $replace = array_values($replace);
        }

        // Loop through $search array.
        foreach($search as $key => $this_search){

            // Don't support multi-dimensional arrays (to match str_replace()).
            $this_search = strval($this_search);

            // If $replace is an array, use the value of $replace[$key] as the replacement. If
            // $replace[$key] doesn't exist, just an empty string (to match str_replace()).
            if(is_array($replace)){
                if(array_key_exists($key, $replace)){
                    $this_replace = strval($replace[$key]);
                } else {
                    $this_replace = '';
                }
            } else {
                $this_replace = strval($replace);
            }

            // Call this function again for
            $this_function = __FUNCTION__;
            $subject = $this_function(
                    $this_search,
                    $this_replace,
                    $subject,
                    $this_count,
                    $limit
            );

            // Adjust $count
            $count += $this_count;

            // Adjust $limit, if not -1
            if($limit!=-1){
                $limit -= $this_count;
            }

            // Reached $limit, return $subject
            if($limit===0){
                return $subject;
            }

        }

        return $subject;

    } else {
        $search = strval($search);
        $replace = strval($replace);

        // Get position of first $search
        $pos = strpos($subject, $search);

        // Return $subject if $search cannot be found
        if($pos===false){
            return $subject;
        }

        // Get length of $search, to make proper replacement later on
        $search_len = strlen($search);

        // Loop until $search can no longer be found, or $limit is reached
        for($i=0;(($i<$limit)||($limit===-1));$i++){

            // Replace 
            $subject = substr_replace($subject, $replace, $pos, $search_len);

            // Increase $count
            $count++;

            // Get location of next $search
            $pos = strpos($subject, $search);

            // Break out of loop if $needle
            if($pos===false){
                break;
            }

        }

        // Return new $subject
        return $subject;

    }

}

Answer 3

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).

Answer 4

There's no version of it, but the solution isn't hacky at all.

$pos = strpos($haystack, $needle);
if ($pos !== false) {
    $newstring = substr_replace($haystack, $replace, $pos, strlen($needle));
}

Pretty easy, and saves the performance penalty of regular expressions.

Bonus: If you want to replace last occurrence, just use strrpos in place of strpos.

Answer 5

I created this little function that replaces string on string (case-sensitive) with limit, without the need of Regexp. It works fine.

function str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $string, $limit = 1) {
    $pos = strpos($string, $search);

    if ($pos === false) {
        return $string;
    }

    $searchLen = strlen($search);

    for ($i = 0; $i < $limit; $i++) {
        $string = substr_replace($string, $replace, $pos, $searchLen);

        $pos = strpos($string, $search);

        if ($pos === false) {
            break;
        }
    }

    return $string;
}

Example usage:

$search  = 'foo';
$replace = 'bar';
$string  = 'foo wizard makes foo brew for evil foo and jack';
$limit   = 2;

$replaced = str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $string, $limit);

echo $replaced;
// bar wizard makes bar brew for evil foo and jack

Answer 6

This function is heavily inspired by the answer by @renocor. It makes the function multi byte safe.

function str_replace_limit($search, $replace, $string, $limit)
{
    $i = 0;
    $searchLength = mb_strlen($search);

    while(($pos = mb_strpos($string, $search)) !== false && $i < $limit)
    {
        $string = mb_substr_replace($string, $replace, $pos, $searchLength);
        $i += 1;
    }

    return $string;
}

function mb_substr_replace($string, $replacement, $start, $length = null, $encoding = null)
{
    $string = (array)$string;
    $encoding = is_null($encoding) ? mb_internal_encoding() : $encoding;
    $length = is_null($length) ? mb_strlen($string) - $start : $length;

    $string = array_map(function($str) use ($replacement, $start, $length, $encoding){

        $begin = mb_substr($str, 0, $start, $encoding);
        $end = mb_substr($str, ($start + $length), mb_strlen($str), $encoding);

        return $begin . $replacement . $end;

    }, $string);

    return ( count($string) === 1 ) ? $string[0] : $string;
}