Question

PHP Changing url in text to html link

Asked by: gwkg

If I have 200 characters of text that contain a url, what is the fastest way to search the text for a url and, if there is one, wrap it in an anchor tag?

Actually I'll have an array of text snippets that I need to loop through, if that will matter.

foreach($temptext as $key => $node) {

$text[$key] = $node->textContent;

}

At some point, I need to search for urls in each $node->textContent and convert them to clickable links.

I can figure out how to do it with a series of string functions that searches for http, extracts it, wraps it in an anchor tag, etc. but I'm sure there is a better (more efficient) way to do it.

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Asked On
2008-11-01 at 17:00:08ID23868144
Tags

php

Topics

PHP Scripting Language

,

Web Languages/Standards

Participating Experts
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Points
500
Comments
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Answers

 

by: cxrPosted on 2008-11-01 at 17:40:36ID: 22859545

Can you show a sample?

 

by: cxrPosted on 2008-11-01 at 17:41:34ID: 22859549

Also, is this http/https urls only?

 

by: gwkgPosted on 2008-11-01 at 17:48:24ID: 22859561

Yes, http only.

I'm not sure if you want to process the text before or after it is assigned to the $text array, but here is a sample after it is assigned.

$text[1] = "I'm sitting at my desk typing.";
$text[2] = "http://mydomain.com";
$text[3] = "Check out this site I found http://thissiteifound.com";

I want to change $text[2] into <a href="http://mydomain.com">http://mydomain.com</a>
and $text[3] into Check out this site I found <a href="http://thissiteifound.com">http://thissiteifound.com</a>


 

by: gwkgPosted on 2008-11-01 at 18:19:01ID: 22859649

I pulling the node from an xml file I grab with curl, if it matters where $temptext is coming from

$xml = curl_exec($ch);
$dom = new DOMDocument();
@$dom->loadXML($xml);
$xpath = new DOMXPath($dom);
$temptext = $xpath->evaluate("//status/text");

 

by: cxrPosted on 2008-11-01 at 18:21:50ID: 22859659

Ok, I took a shot at it. Note that this regexp is not properly tested, I just wrote it now. Test it and see if it does what you need. 

foreach($temptext as $key => $node) {
  $text[$key] = preg_replace(
    '!(.*?)(https?://[a-z0-9\.\-/\?&\+~_=%#;@$]+)([ ]|$)(.*)!',
    '\1<a href="\2">\2</a>\3\4',
    $node->textContent);
}
                                              
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by: cxrPosted on 2008-11-01 at 18:23:20ID: 22859665

...and I allready found a weakness... it does not match UPPERCASE letters... add an i at the end:

'!(.*?)(https?://[a-z0-9\.\-/\?&\+~_=%#;@$]+)([ ]|$)(.*)!i'

 

by: gwkgPosted on 2008-11-01 at 18:43:29ID: 22859710

Worked just like I need it to, thanks!

Quick question... what's the difference between your expression and this one produced by RegexBuddy

\b(https?)://[-A-Z0-9+&@#/%?=~_|!:,.;]*[-A-Z0-9+&@#/%=~_|]

There comment is "The final character class makes sure that if an URL is part of some text, punctuation such as a comma or full stop after the URL is not interpreted as part of the URL."

I know the basics, like [a-z] and wildcards, so maybe I should be more specific.

How is theres case insenstive without the trailing i?

Will yours include the punctuation in the link if the text is "Check out http://mydomain.com."?


I ask so next time I can try and get it right on my own.

 

by: gwkgPosted on 2008-11-01 at 18:44:53ID: 31512405

I asked a follow up question if you have the time.  Thanks!

 

by: cxrPosted on 2008-11-01 at 19:09:26ID: 22859791

The RegexBuddy version does not include pattern modifers. It could be enclosed in ! ... !i  or similar when used.

My version was weak when it comes to catching the end of the url. It requires a space, or to be at the end of the string: ([ ]|$). You can easily add the dot: ([ \.]|$), but specifying any character NOT in the list of valid chars is probably best: ([^a-z0-9\.\-/\?&\+~_=%#;@$]|$).

 

by: gwkgPosted on 2008-11-01 at 19:17:27ID: 22859814

I'm using it to pull my twitter feed so I can control whether or not there is a space.  

I'll need that extra info if I want to pull someone elses feed, though

Thanks again

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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