strip defined character from string - php

Question

im having a odd problem os my website, i have a script that records all the searchs and insert those search words on database, the problem is that since search engine robots started sneaking around my website, they make my script to produce search keywords like "search keywords////////////////////////////////////////////////"
I want to strip that characteres ( ////////// ) before indexed on mysql.
This is what i have:
$search=htmlspecialchars($_GET['load']);
$say=mysql_query("SELECT * FROM madvideo WHERE MATCH (baslik) AGAINST ('*$search*' IN BOOLEAN MODE)");
$saydim=mysql_num_rows($say);
$count = $saydim;
$page = !empty($_GET["page"]) ? intval($_GET["page"]) : 1;
$s = ($page-1)*$perpage;
$sayfasayisi=ceil($count/$perpage);
if(ayaral("Arananlar-Kaydet")=="1") {
$ekle=cevir($search);
#mysql_query("insert into tag (baslik,tr,tarih) values ('$search','$ekle',now()) "); }
The variable " $search " will call the search word, and i dont know whats the strip syntax i have to use to strip that nasty ///////// character.
EDIT: the code that creates the words is this:
$vtitle = str_replace("\r\n\r\n", ' ', $vtitle);
$words = explode(' ', $vtitle);
$k = count($words);
$k3 = ceil($k/3);
$new = array();
for ($i=0; $i<$k; $i+=$k3) {
$new[] = join(' ', array_slice($words,$i, $k3));
}
$tag1 = $new[0];
$tag2 = $new[1];
$tag3 = $new[2];

Answer 1

Use MySQL TRIM function to remove from end of the string as follows:
TRIM(TRAILING '/' FROM <string>)
#mysql_query("insert into tag (baslik,tr,tarih)
values (TRIM(TRAILING '/' FROM '$search'),'$ekle',now())")
To trim from both beginning and ending, use following
TRIM(BOTH '/' FROM <string>)
#mysql_query("insert into tag (baslik,tr,tarih)
values (TRIM(BOTH '/' FROM '$search'),'$ekle',now())")
To remove all occurences of the string use REPLACE function as follows:
REPLACE(<string>, '/', '')
#mysql_query("insert into tag (baslik,tr,tarih)
values (REPLACE('$search', '/',''),'$ekle',now())")
Hope it helps...

Answer 2

If the / characters appear always at the end of the $search, you can use rtrim using the second (optional) parameter:
$search = "search keywords////////////////////////////////////////////////";
$search = rtrim($search, '/ ');
echo $search; // prints 'search keywords'

Answer 3

EDIT:
Real example...
<?php
if(isset($_REQUEST['str'])) {
$search = $_REQUEST['str'];
$ser_chk = strpos($search, "/");
if ($ser_chk > -1) {
$search = str_replace("/", "", $search);
}
}
?>
<h1><?php print $search; ?></h1>
<form action="" method="post">
<input type="text" size="100" value="search keywords////////////////////////////////////////////////" name="str" />
<input type="submit" />
</form>
LINK TO TEST: http://simplestudio.rs/tsto.php
At least do:
$search = mysql_real_escape_string($search);
Also you can check for that characters and if founded just replace them with empty string.
$ser_chk = strpos($search, "/");
if ($ser_chk > -1) {
$search = str_replace("/", "", $search);
}

Answer 4

$regex = "/\//";
$string = "////search";
$string = preg_replace($regex, '', $string);
echo $string;

Answer 5

The flexible solution for character repetition will be a regular expression.
$output = preg_replace('/\/[\/]+/', '/'. $input);
It will handle any number of "/" and replace it with a single "/".