Using wild cards in str_replace URL - php

Question

i'm trying to use str_replace to edit urls in a csv import in Wordpress, using WP All Import.
This code works
[str_replace("https://oldsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Image-Download.jpg", "http://newsite.com/wp-content/uploads/", {title_slider[1]})]
The problem is that not all the uploads in the old site rest in 2022/10 ... so i was wondering if there was any way to use a wildcard to replace 2022 for any year and 10 for any month ?
I tried uploads/*
I hoped that it might accept that but what is being produced is a mixed URL of both oldsite and newsite.
I know this would not work in a browser to navigate to the file, but i only require str_replace.
Current outcome https://oldsite.com/newsite.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Image.jpg

Answer 1

Looking up the documentation for that plugin, confirms that the syntax you're using is running an ordinary PHP function.
So to find the direct answer to your question, we can look up the PHP manual for the str_replace function. It's rather straight-forward:
This function returns a string or an array with all occurrences of search in subject replaced with the given replace value.
No special syntax for wildcards or pattern matching. However, that page does link a couple of times to another function, preg_replace, which:
Searches subject for matches to pattern and replaces them with replacement.
That sounds more promising, right? Specifically, it uses regular expressions, which are a common and very powerful way to specify text patterns.
If you haven't heard of "regular expressions" before, the details might be confusing, but there are lots of tutorials and cheat sheets online.
For example, to match "exactly two digits" you can write \d\d, or \d{2}. In PHP, you would write that like this - note the special / or # delimiters around the pattern, inside the quotes; they can be pretty much any character, but if it appears in the pattern, it has to be "escaped", so best to choose something that doesn't appear:
$new_value = preg_replace('/\d\d/', '99', $old_value);
// or
$new_value = preg_replace("/\d\d/", "99", $old_value);
// or
$new_value = preg_replace('#\d\d#', '99', $old_value);
// or
$new_value = preg_replace("#\d\d#", "99", $old_value);
Translating that example into the plugin's syntax, and noting this from the plugin manual:
You must use double quotes when executing PHP functions from within WP All Import.
You would have this:
[preg_replace("/\d\d/", "99", {something[1]})]
// or
[preg_replace("#\d\d#", "99", {something[1]})]
Hopefully you can work out the rest from there.