Replace strings in a file from an array in PHP - php

Question

This is a tricky one...I am trying to replace some strings in a file that i hold in array.
Because there are a lot of files...i've been trying to find the fastest way possible.
I tried this (which worked) but it was slow.
First parsed all the files and got an array of the values i want to
change (lets say 500).
Then I wrote a foreach loop to parse through the files one by one.
Then inside that, another foreach loop to go through the values one by one
preg_replacing the file for any occurrences of the array value.
This takes forever though cause not all files need to be parsed with 500 array elements.
So i am changing the code now like this:
Parse every file and make an array of the values i want to replace.
Search the file again for all the occurrences for each array value and replace it.
Save the file
I think this will be much faster that the old way...The problem i am having though now is with the read/write loop, and the array loop...
I want to do this as fast as possible...cause there will be a lot of files to parse and some have 100+ values.
So far i got this in a function.
function openFileSearchAndReplace($file)
{
$holdcontents = file_get_contents($file);
$newarray = makeArrayOfValuesToReplace($holdcontents);
foreach ($newarray as $key => $value) {
$replaceWith = getNewValueFor($value);
$holdcontent = preg_replace('/\\b'.$value.'\\b/', $replaceWith, $holdcontents);
}
file_put_contents($file, $holdcontent, LOCK_EX); //Save and close
}
Now, this doesnt work...it just changes 1 value only because i have file_put_contents and file_get_contents outside of the foreach. (Not to mention that it replaces values that it shouldnt replace. Probably cause the read/write are outside of the loop.) I have to put them inside to work..but thats gonna be slow..cause it take 3-4seconds per file to do the change since there are a lot of elements in the array.
How can i "Open the file", "Read it", "Change ALL values first", "Then save close the file", so i can move to the next.
EDIT:
Maybe i am not explaining it well i dont know...or is this too complicated....I have to parse the array of values...there is no way i can avoid that...but instead of (In every loop), i open the file search and replace 1 value, close the file.....I want to do this:
Open the file, get the content in an array or string or whatever. For all the values i have keep replacing the text with the equivalent value, and when all the values are done...that array or string write to the file. So i am only opening/closing the file once. Instead of waiting for php to read/write/close all the time.
-Thanks

Answer 1

How about just using str_replace(mixed $search , mixed $replace , mixed $subject)?
You can have an array of search strings which will be replaced by their corresponding item in the replace array and as the PHP manual says:
If you don't need fancy replacing rules (like regular expressions), you should always use this function instead of preg_replace().
Also just close the file and reopen it with mode 'w'. File will be truncated to 0 length
Added Edit
$fileContents = file_get_contents("theFile");
$search = array('apples', 'oranges');
$replace = array('pears', 'lemons');
$newContents = str_replace($search, $replace, $fileContents);
$handle = fopen("theFile","w");
fwrite($handle, $newContents);
fclose($handle);
That's it your file has all the old strings replaced with new ones.

Answer 2

There is no solution to the problem. file_get_contents and file_put_contents simply doesnt work like that.
I appreciate everyone's attention to the problem.