Question

I have an array of sample user string inputs which may or may not have smarty variables in them which id like to escape with {literal}{/literal} tags.

Array
(
    [0] => {$PLEASE}
    [1] => {PLEASE}
    [2] => {{PLEASE}}
    [3] => {{{PLEASE}}}
    [4] => {a{PLEASE}}
    [5] => {a{$PLEASE}}
    [6] => {{$PLEASE}a}
    [7] => {{PLEASE}a}
    [8] => {{{$PLEASE}}}
    [9] => {{{{PLEASE}}}}
)

Here is what I hope to achieve.

Array
(
    [0] => {$PLEASE}
    [1] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [2] => {literal}{{PLEASE}}{/literal}
    [3] => {literal}{{{PLEASE}}}{/literal}
    [4] => {literal}{a{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [5] => {literal}{a{/literal}{$PLEASE}{literal}}{/literal}
    [6] => {literal}{{/literal}{$PLEASE}{literal}a}{/literal}
    [7] => {literal}{PLEASE}a}{/literal}
    [8] => {literal}{{{/literal}{$PLEASE}{literal}}}{/literal}
    [9] => {literal}{{{{PLEASE}}}}{/literal}
)

Right now I have this

$data = preg_replace('/{+([^\$])([a-z0-9]*)}+/si', '{literal}{\1\2}{/literal}', $data);

Which gives me

Array
(
    [0] => {$PLEASE}
    [1] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [2] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [3] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [4] => {a{literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
    [5] => {a{$PLEASE}}
    [6] => {{$PLEASE}a}
    [7] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}a}
    [8] => {{{$PLEASE}}}
    [9] => {literal}{PLEASE}{/literal}
)

Been stuck for quite sometime now, was wondering if anyone could help me figure it out or if its even possible to do so.

Answer 1

ok, I’m sure there’s a more elegant way, perhaps one-liner, but whatever, it works with the following:

//Step 1: Replace 'real' smarty variables with an intermediate string
$data1 = preg_replace('/{(\$\w+)}/', "!!!$1!!!", $arr);
//replace start and end curly braces with {literal}:
$data2 = preg_replace('/{(.*)}/', '{literal}{$1}{/literal}', $data);
//Replace all inner smarty variables with their original string:
$data3 = preg_replace('/.!!!(.*)!!!/', '{/literal}$1{literal}', $data2);
//Replace standalone variables with their original string:
$data4 = preg_replace('/^!!!(.*)!!!$/', '{$1}', $data3);

You can merge steps 3&4 in one command