how to split string and add additional strin to it - php

Question

i have a string and i need to add some html tag at certain index of the string.
$comment_text = 'neethu and Dilnaz Patel  check this'
Array ( [start_index_key] => 0 [string_length] => 6 )
Array ( [start_index_key] => 11 [string_length] => 12 )
i need to split at start index key with long mentioned in string_length
expected final output is
$formattedText = '<span>#neethu</span> and <span>#Dilnaz Patel</span>  check this'
what should i do?

Answer 1

This is a very strict method that will break at the first change.
Do you have control over the creation of the string? If so, you can create a string with placeholders and fill the values.
Even though you can do this with regex:
$pattern = '/(.+[^ ])\s+and (.+[^ ])\s+check this/i';
$string = 'neehu and Dilnaz Patel check this';
$replace = preg_replace($pattern, '<b>#$\1</b> and <b>#$\2</b> check this', $string);
But this is still a very rigid solution.
If you can try creating a string with placeholders for the names. this will be much easier to manage and change in the future.

Answer 2

<?php
function my_replace($string,$array_break)
{
$break_open = array();
$break_close = array();
$start = 0;
foreach($array_break as $key => $val)
{
// for tag <span>
if($key % 2 == 0)
{
$start = $val;
$break_open[] = $val;
}
else
{
// for tag </span>
$break_close[] = $start + $val;
}
}
$result = array();
for($i=0;$i<strlen($string);$i++)
{
$current_char = $string[$i];
if(in_array($i,$break_open))
{
$result[] = "<span>".$current_char;
}
else if(in_array($i,$break_close))
{
$result[] = $current_char."</span>";
}
else
{
$result[] = $current_char;
}
}
return implode("",$result);
}
$comment_text = 'neethu and Dilnaz Patel check this';
$my_result = my_replace($comment_text,array(0,6,11,12));
var_dump($my_result);
Explaination:
Create array parameter with: The even index (0,2,4,6,8,...) would be start_index_key and The odd index (1,3,5,7,9,...) would be string_length
read every break point , and store it in $break_open and $break_close
create array $result for result.
Loop your string, add , add or dont add spann with break_point
Result:
string '<span>neethu </span>and <span>Dilnaz Patel </span> check this' (length=61)