Replace word with stars (exact length) - php

Question

am trying to replace a word in a string BUT i want to get the word found in the function and replace it with a word with stars with the exact length ?
Is this possible or do i need to do this in some other way ?
$text = "Hello world, its 2018";
$words = ['world', 'its'];
echo str_replace($words, str_repeat("*", count(FOUND) ), $text);

Answer 1

You could use a regular expression to do that :
$text = preg_replace_callback('~(?:'.implode('|',$words).')~i', function($matches){
return str_repeat('*', strlen($matches[0]));
}, $text);
echo $text ; // "Hello *****, *** 2018"
You also could secure this using preg_quote before to use preg_replace_callback() :
$words = array_map('preg_quote', $words);
EDIT : The following code is another way, that use a foreach() loop, but prevent unwanted behaviors (replacing part of words), and allows multi-bytes characters:
$words = ['foo', 'bar', 'bôz', 'notfound'];
$text = "Bar&foo; bAr notfoo, bôzo bôz :Bar! (foo), notFOO and NotBar or 'bar' foo";
$expt = "***&***; *** notfoo, bôzo *** :***! (***), notFOO and NotBar or '***' ***";
foreach ($words as $word) {
$text = preg_replace_callback("~\b$word\b~i", function($matches) use ($word) {
return str_ireplace($word, str_repeat('*', mb_strlen($word)), $matches[0]);
}, $text);
}
echo $text, PHP_EOL, $expt ;

Answer 2

Another approach:
$text = "Hello world, its 2018";
$words = ['world', 'its'];
$f = function($value) { return str_repeat("*", strlen($value)) ; } ;
$replacement = array_map($f, $words);
echo str_replace($words, $replacement, $text);

Answer 3

You can try this :
$text = "Hello world, its 2018";
$words = ['world', 'its'];
// Loop through your word array
foreach ($words as $word) {
$length = strlen($word); // length of the word you want to replace
$star = str_repeat("*", $length); // I build the new string ****
$text = str_replace($word, $star, $text); // I replace the $word by the new string
}
echo $text; // Hello *****, *** 2018
Is it what you are looking for?

Answer 4

You can go like this..
$text = "Hello crazy world, its 2018";
$words = ['world', 'its'];
array_walk($words,"replace_me");
function replace_me($value,$key)
{
global $text;
$text = str_replace($value,str_repeat("*",strlen($value)),$text);
}
echo $text;

Answer 5

$text = "Hello world, its 2018";
$words = ['world', 'its'];
// Loop through your word array
foreach ($words as $word) {
$length = strlen($word); // length of the word you want to replace
$star = str_repeat("*", $length); // I build the new string ****
$text = str_replace($word, $star, $text); // I replace the $word by the new string
}
echo $text; // Hello *****, *** 2018