asked on

preg_replace

Hi experts!

I have a function that replaces the accents by letters without signs like below and I want to call once time the preg_replace function to do it. Any idea?

Thanks in advance!

public static function removeAccents	(	$_s	// string to remove accents
											)
	{
		$_s = preg_replace("[á]", "a", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[à]", "a", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[â]", "a", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ã]", "a", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ª]", "a", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Á]", "A", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[À]", "A", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Â]", "A", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ã]", "A", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[é]", "e", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[è]", "e", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ê]", "e", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[É]", "E", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[È]", "E", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ê]", "E", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[í]", "i", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ì]", "i", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[î]", "i", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Í]", "I", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ì]", "I", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Î]", "I", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ó]", "o", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ò]", "o", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ô]", "o", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[õ]", "o", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[º]", "o", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ó]", "O", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ò]", "O", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ô]", "O", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Õ]", "O", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ú]", "u", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[ù]", "u", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[û]", "u", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ú]", "U", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Ù]", "U", $_s);
		$_s = preg_replace("[Û]", "U", $_s);
		$_s = str_replace("ç", "c", $_s);
		$_s = str_replace("Ç", "C", $_s);
		return $_s;
	}

Open in new window

kaufmed

For all characters which share a common replacement, you can consolidate the search. For example:

$_s = preg_replace("[áàâãª]", "a", $_s);

Open in new window

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

kaufmed

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

Ray Paseur

Here is the teaching example showing how I do it, neatly packaged as a one-statement function. HTH, ~Ray

<?php // RAY_westernize_letters.php
error_reporting(E_ALL);


// DEMONSTRATE HOW TO TRANSLATE SOME WESTERN CHARACTERS INTO ENGLISH-PRINTABLE


// TEST CASES
$arr
= array
( 'Françoise'
, 'ßeta or Beta?'
, 'ENCYCLOPÆDIA'
, 'ça va! mon élève mi niña?'
, 'A stealthy ƒart'
, 'Jean "Ðango" Reinhardt of Pont-à-Celles'
)
;

// DISPLAY EACH TEST CASE
foreach ($arr as $str)
{
    echo PHP_EOL
    . '<br/>'
    . $str
    . ' = '
    . '<strong>'
    . mungstring($str)
    . '</strong>'
    ;
}

// EXAMPLE SHOWING HOW TO TURN A PORTUGESE NAME INTO PART OF A URL STRING
$str = 'Armação de Pêra';
$new = mungString($str);
$new = strtolower($new);
$new = str_replace(' ', '-', $new);

// SHOW THE URL STRING
echo PHP_EOL
. '<br/>'
. '<strong>'
. '<a target="blank" href="http://lmgtfy.com?q='
. htmlentities(mungstring($new))
. '">'
. $str
. '</a>'
. '</strong>'
;

// A FUNCTION TO RETURN THE WESTERNIZED STRING
function mungString($str, $return='TEXT')
{
    // OUR REPLACEMENT ARRAY (MAY WANT SOME CHANGES HERE)
    static
    $normal
    = array
    ( 'ƒ' => 'f'  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C6%91 florin
    , 'Š' => 'S'  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0 S-caron (voiceless postalveolar fricative)
    , 'š' => 's'  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%A0 s-caron
    , 'Ð' => 'Dj' // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eth (voiced dental fricative)
    , 'Ž' => 'Z'  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BD Z-caron (voiced postalveolar fricative)
    , 'ž' => 'z'  // http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BD z-caron
    , 'À' => 'A'
    , 'Á' => 'A'
    , 'Â' => 'A'
    , 'Ã' => 'A'
    , 'Ä' => 'A'
    , 'Å' => 'A'
    , 'Æ' => 'E'
    , 'Ç' => 'C'
    , 'È' => 'E'
    , 'É' => 'E'
    , 'Ê' => 'E'
    , 'Ë' => 'E'
    , 'Ì' => 'I'
    , 'Í' => 'I'
    , 'Î' => 'I'
    , 'Ï' => 'I'
    , 'Ñ' => 'N'
    , 'Ò' => 'O'
    , 'Ó' => 'O'
    , 'Ô' => 'O'
    , 'Õ' => 'O'
    , 'Ö' => 'O'
    , 'Ø' => 'O'
    , 'Ù' => 'U'
    , 'Ú' => 'U'
    , 'Û' => 'U'
    , 'Ü' => 'U'
    , 'Ý' => 'Y'
    , 'Þ' => 'B'
    , 'ß' => 'Ss'
    , 'à' => 'a'
    , 'á' => 'a'
    , 'â' => 'a'
    , 'ã' => 'a'
    , 'ä' => 'a'
    , 'å' => 'a'
    , 'æ' => 'e'
    , 'ç' => 'c'
    , 'è' => 'e'
    , 'é' => 'e'
    , 'ê' => 'e'
    , 'ë' => 'e'
    , 'ì' => 'i'
    , 'í' => 'i'
    , 'î' => 'i'
    , 'ï' => 'i'
    , 'ð' => 'o'
    , 'ñ' => 'n'
    , 'ò' => 'o'
    , 'ó' => 'o'
    , 'ô' => 'o'
    , 'õ' => 'o'
    , 'ö' => 'o'
    , 'ø' => 'o'
    , 'ù' => 'u'
    , 'ú' => 'u'
    , 'û' => 'u'
    , 'ý' => 'y'
    , 'ý' => 'y'
    , 'þ' => 'b'
    , 'ÿ' => 'y'
    )
    ;
    // RETURN THE "TRANSLATED" TEXT
    if ($return == 'TEXT') return strtr($str, $normal);

    // MIGHT BE USEFUL TO GET THE LIST OF ORIGINAL LETTERS
    return array_keys($normal);
}

Open in new window

ZumbaJr

ASKER

Very good!