PHP - Is it possible to add a string to a variable? - php

Question

I would like to make a small change in a code for a table of contents.
I want to add a sign in front of each heading. The character should be recognized as text.
I've tried a few things, but unfortunately I have not found the right variable.
The code comes from a plugin for Wordpress
I have already tried the following variables:
$items
$tic
$find
$replace
$post
Here is the code that prints the list:
if ( $tic->is_eligible($custom_toc_position) ) {
extract( $args );
$items = $tic->extract_headings( $find, $replace,wptexturize($post->post_content) );
$title = ( array_key_exists('title', $instance) ) ? apply_filters('widget_title', $instance['title']) : '';
if ( strpos($title, '%PAGE_TITLE%') !== false ) $title = str_replace( '%PAGE_TITLE%', get_the_title(), $title );
if ( strpos($title, '%PAGE_NAME%') !== false ) $title = str_replace( '%PAGE_NAME%', get_the_title(), $title );
$hide_inline = $toc_options['show_toc_in_widget_only'];
$css_classes = '';
// bullets?
if ( $toc_options['bullet_spacing'] )
$css_classes .= ' have_bullets';
else
$css_classes .= ' no_bullets';
if ( $items ) {
// before widget (defined by themes)
echo $before_widget;
// display the widget title if one was input (before and after titles defined by themes)
if ( $title ) echo $before_title . $title . $after_title;
// display the list
echo '<ul class="toc_widget_list' . $css_classes . '">' . $items . '</ul>';
// after widget (defined by themes)
echo $after_widget;
}
This are the full code of function extract_headings:
public function extract_headings( &$find, &$replace, $content = '' )
{
$matches = array();
$anchor = '';
$items = false;
// reset the internal collision collection as the_content may have been triggered elsewhere
// eg by themes or other plugins that need to read in content such as metadata fields in
// the head html tag, or to provide descriptions to twitter/facebook
$this->collision_collector = array();
if ( is_array($find) && is_array($replace) && $content ) {
// get all headings
// the html spec allows for a maximum of 6 heading depths
if ( preg_match_all('/(<h([1-6]{1})[^>]*>).*<\/h\2>/msuU', $content, $matches, PREG_SET_ORDER) ) {
// remove undesired headings (if any) as defined by heading_levels
if ( count($this->options['heading_levels']) != 6 ) {
$new_matches = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < count($matches); $i++) {
if ( in_array($matches[$i][2], $this->options['heading_levels']) )
$new_matches[] = $matches[$i];
}
$matches = $new_matches;
}
// remove specific headings if provided via the 'exclude' property
if ( $this->options['exclude'] ) {
$excluded_headings = explode('|', $this->options['exclude']);
if ( count($excluded_headings) > 0 ) {
for ($j = 0; $j < count($excluded_headings); $j++) {
// escape some regular expression characters
// others: http://www.php.net/manual/en/regexp.reference.meta.php
$excluded_headings[$j] = str_replace(
array('*'),
array('.*'),
trim($excluded_headings[$j])
);
}
$new_matches = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < count($matches); $i++) {
$found = false;
for ($j = 0; $j < count($excluded_headings); $j++) {
if ( #preg_match('/^' . $excluded_headings[$j] . '$/imU', strip_tags($matches[$i][0])) ) {
$found = true;
break;
}
}
if (!$found) $new_matches[] = $matches[$i];
}
if ( count($matches) != count($new_matches) )
$matches = $new_matches;
}
}
// remove empty headings
$new_matches = array();
for ($i = 0; $i < count($matches); $i++) {
if ( trim( strip_tags($matches[$i][0]) ) != false )
$new_matches[] = $matches[$i];
}
if ( count($matches) != count($new_matches) )
$matches = $new_matches;
// check minimum number of headings
if ( count($matches) >= $this->options['start'] ) {
for ($i = 0; $i < count($matches); $i++) {
// get anchor and add to find and replace arrays
$anchor = $this->url_anchor_target( $matches[$i][0] );
$find[] = $matches[$i][0];
$replace[] = str_replace(
array(
$matches[$i][1], // start of heading
'</h' . $matches[$i][2] . '>' // end of heading
),
array(
$matches[$i][1] . '<span id="' . $anchor . '">',
'</span></h' . $matches[$i][2] . '>'
),
$matches[$i][0]
);
// assemble flat list
if ( !$this->options['show_heirarchy'] ) {
$items .= '<li><a href="#' . $anchor . '">';
if ( $this->options['ordered_list'] ) $items .= count($replace) . ' ';
$items .= strip_tags($matches[$i][0]) . '</a></li>';
}
}
// build a hierarchical toc?
// we could have tested for $items but that var can be quite large in some cases
if ( $this->options['show_heirarchy'] ) $items = $this->build_hierarchy( $matches );
}
}
}
return $items;
}
I tried it like this:
$items = '>'.$items
$tic = '>'.$tic
$find = '>'.$find
.
.
.
Unfortunately, nothing has hit the right place
$ items addressed only the entire list
The other Variables had no effect or led to errors

Answer 1

The extract_headings is creating the list items. This section of the function...
// assemble flat list
if ( !$this->options['show_heirarchy'] ) {
$items .= '<li><a href="#' . $anchor . '">';
if ( $this->options['ordered_list'] ) $items .= count($replace) . ' ';
$items .= strip_tags($matches[$i][0]) . '</a></li>';
}
Should look like this:
// assemble flat list
if ( !$this->options['show_heirarchy'] ) {
$items .= '<li><a href="#' . $anchor . '">>';
if ( $this->options['ordered_list'] ) $items .= count($replace) . ' ';
$items .= strip_tags($matches[$i][0]) . '</a></li>';
}
You can see I've added an extra > inside the hyperlink on the third line. If adding an extra > causes any issues, you can also use >.