Parsing a template and replacing variables

essentially the same as the first, only instead of being a request object, it is an already declared variable.

So for example, <!--somename--> would be replaced with the value of a variable called $somename.

I had been hard coding it like this:
str_ireplace("<!--name-->", $name, $TemplateFile);

but as the list grows i would rather have it be automatic and save myself the work.

For the values with the first example:

foreach ($_REQUEST as $reqkey=>$reqval) {
  $TemplateFile=preg_replace('/\(\[('.$reqkey.')\]\)/e','$reqval',$TemplateFile);
}

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For the second example:

$TemplateFile=preg_replace('/<!--somename-->/e','$somename',$TemplateFile);

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that didn't do it. For example I had been doing this:
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--newsletter-->", $newsletter, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--markerid-->", $markerid, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--affiliateid-->", $affiliateid, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--country-->", $country, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--terms-->", $terms, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--phone-->", $phone, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--username-->", $username, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--permissions-->", $permissions, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--dateofbirth-->", $dateofbirth, $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = str_ireplace("<!--ipaddress-->", $ipaddress, $TemplateFile);

and I would like to somehow do it with just one expression as opposed to having to hardcode all this. Maybe it isn't possible...

If you had the variables/values for the second example in an array called $vararray you could use:

foreach ($vararray as $reqkey=>$reqval) {
  $TemplateFile=preg_replace('/<!--'.$reqkey.'-->/e','$reqval',$TemplateFile);
}

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Note, for the second example to work you need a $vararray array with the variable names and values:

Array
(
    [newsletter] => newletter val
    [markerid] => markerid val
)

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Note that my solutions are based on preg_replace, not str_ireplace as in your previous examples.

hernst42, nice extension of the concept, sure is cleaner code.
As a side note I was able to reduce the \'s without issue:
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/\(\[(\w+)\]\)/e", '$_REQUEST["\1"]', $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/<!--(\w+)-->/e", '$\1', $TemplateFile);

this might work, but might also fail. special regex-char like < !( must be prefix with a \ and when using double quote the correct way to create a \ in the string is to use \\. In the Zend Code Analyzer your code gives me:

Bad escape sequence: \( (line 3)
Bad escape sequence: \[ (line 3)
Bad escape sequence: \w (line 3)
Bad escape sequence: \] (line 3)
Bad escape sequence: \) (line 3)
Bad escape sequence: \w (line 4)

interclubs, thanks for the question and the points.
hernst42, I see your reasoning for the \\ now, thanks for the info.

One quick follow up:

if I wanted to replace this one to get it to work with global variables, as opposed to request, how would i do it:
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/\\(\\[(\w+)\\]\\)/e", '$_REQUEST["\1"]', $TemplateFile);
I tried changing it to:
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/\\(\\[(\w+)\\]\\)/e", '$_GLOBALS["\1"]', $TemplateFile);

but it didn't work.

Thanks!

interclubs, you may want to check your $_GLOBALS array, it worked fine for me:

<?php
$_GLOBALS['__NAME__']='name data';
$foo='foo data';
$TemplateFile = '<!--foo-->
([__NAME__])';
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/\\(\\[(\w+)\\]\\)/e", '$_GLOBALS["\1"]', $TemplateFile);
$TemplateFile = preg_replace("/\\<\\!--(\w+)--\\>/e", '$\1', $TemplateFile);
echo "<pre>$TemplateFile";
?>

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As a side note, the given pattern uses \w which translates into:
[a-zA-Z_0-9]

This assumes all of your variable names do not include characters outside of that set, such as "-" etc.

it's not $_GLOBALS it's $GLOBALS