php preg_replace not working within foreach loop - php

Question

I have the following structure :
<?php
$i = 0;
foreach ($users as $user) {
$i++;
$string = '<span>The number is $i</span>';
$string = preg_replace('/\<span.*?\/>$/e','',$string);
echo $string;
}
?>
It appends the $string the number of times foreach loop iterate whereas i just want it to display one time as The number is 4 at the end of the loop. preg_replace works if outside of the loop. How can i echo the output one time and delete rest. I need to do it within the loop and not outside it.

Answer 1

This will do it:
$i = 0;
foreach ($users as $user) {
$i++;
if ($i == count($users)) {
$string = '<span>The number is $i</span>';
$string = preg_replace('/\<span.*?\/>$/e','',$string);
echo $string;
}
}
Though, you might want to consider other options for achieving this. You may maintain your $i variable and output it right after the loop, as this is what this does exactly.
Or, you could just echo "<span>The number is ".count($users)."</span>";.
In my answer, I assumed you totally can't change this things, and that your problem is more complicated than this simple preg_replace. If it's not, consider simplifying things.

Answer 2

The solution I think you need here is output buffering:
// Start the output buffer to catch the output from the loop
ob_start();
$i = 0;
foreach ($users as $user) {
$i++;
// Do stuff
}
// Stop the output buffer and get the loop output as a string
$loopOutput = ob_get_clean();
// Output everything in the correct order
echo '<span>The number is '.$i.'</span>'.$loopOutput;