I am getting a error using php (str_replace) - php

Question

I am getting a error while using php str_replace function.
I am reading out a string in a different file a JSON
and if I remove the str_replace part it works without the error but I want to make the ** go to bold if there are any other ways you know you can also just tell that.
<?php
$data = json_decode($readjson, true);
echo "<br/><br<br/>";
foreach ($data as $emp) {
echo str_replace("**","<strong>","$data"), $emp['message']."<br/>";
}
?>
And the output is
Notice: Array to string conversion in C:\Users\k-ver\Dropbox\Other\website stuff or smth\r3mind3r\changelog.php on line 16
Array - Weekley Update - Another great week at our side! We have made enournous advances in synching with the raspberry pi (the computer we are going to host from) and are closer than ever to our promised release We have also been fixing on the mute commands and are very close to making it work, aswell with unmute command.language feature is closing up on complete and about 70% of the bot has the language system working. We also made a new system that should be easier to use for bouth us devs and the translators. All thats left for the release atm is: -finishing synching -fixing the mute command and unmute command -make a functioning permissonlevel system -adding those last 30% of the bot that does not have the translationsystem in place. and the bot will have its huge release! (about time if you asked me)
(it is for a dev log)
and the part I don't understand is the notice and I also don't understand how to fix it
It would be awesome if you guys would like to help me.

Answer 1

This variable should be string value e.g $emp['message'] not the multi-dimensional array $data.
// see this line with $emp['message'] not $data array
str_replace("**","<strong>",$emp['message']);
EDIT: As per comment
<?php
$string = '{
"188762891137056769": {
"message": "\n**- Weekley Update -**\nAnother great week at our side! \nWe have made enournous advances in synching with the raspberry pi *(the computer we are going to host from)* and are closer than ever to our promised release\n\nWe have also been fixing on the mute commands and are very close to making it work, aswell with unmute command.language feature is closing \nup on complete and about 70% of the bot has the language system working. We also made a new system that should be easier to use for bouth \nus devs and the translators.\n\n**All thats left for the release atm is:**\n-finishing synching \n-fixing the mute command and unmute command \n-make a functioning permissonlevel system\n-adding those last 30% of the bot that does not have the translationsystem in place. \n\nand the bot will have its huge release! *(about time if you asked me)*"
}
}';
$array = json_decode($string,1);
$message = $array['188762891137056769']['message'];
$re = '/\*\*(.*?)\*\*/m';
$subst = '<strong>$1</strong>';
echo preg_replace($re, $subst, $message);
?>
DEMO: https://3v4l.org/ovhGq

Answer 2

You used array inside str_replace("**","","$data") this is wrong, how you can fix it just replace $data with $emp

Answer 3

Your code is:
foreach ($data as $emp) {
echo str_replace("**","<strong>","$data"), $emp['message']."<br/>";
}
You see $data is an array, an $emp is the current element within the foreach loop.
So, you should do: str_replace("", "", $emp)
By the way, I see this: $emp['message'], which means $emp is an array too?
Maybe you should post the $readjson variable, so we'll know what type of data is.

Answer 4

If you want to enclose the text between ** with <strong></strong>, you need to use a regex. Here is a little code that does what you want :
function boldify($text) {
return preg_replace('/\*\*((.|\n|\r)*)\*\*/imU', '<strong>$1</strong>', $text);
}
Basically, it uses the function preg_replace to replace according to the regex (the first parameter).
How does this regex work :
1) You have \*\* at the beginning because that's your "opening tag". (* is a special regex character, so it needs escaping.)
2) You have ((.|\n|\r)*).
The inner part : .|\n|\r says "Catch me any character (the .) or (the |) a line feed (the \n) or a carriage return (the \r).".
Then you have the inner part enclosed with (inner part)*. This says "Match the inner part any number of time.".
Finally, you have the "middle part" enclosed with (middle part). This says "Remember what you just caught inside the parentheses, we will need it for the replace.
3) You have \*\* again.
4) All this is enclosed by /regex/imU.
The / are just there to say where the regex actually is.
The imU are flags: i is ignore case, m multiline, U ungreedy.
i are m are pretty straightforward, but U says "catch the smallest group possible".
As the second parameter you have '<strong>$1</strong>'. $1 is the group we remember from 2).
The third parameter is the subject.
I hope it was clear.
You can just use it like this :
echo boldify($emp['message']);