Question

Im reluctant to ask but I cant figure out php preg_replace and ignore certain bits of the sting.

$string = '2012042410000102';

$string needs to look like _0424_102

The showing numbers are variable always changing and 2012 changes ever year

what I’ve tried:

^\d{4}[^\d{4}]10000[^\d{3}]$
^\d{4}[^\d]{4}10000[^\d]{3}$

Any help would be appreciated. I know it’s a noob question but easy points for whoever helps.

Thanks

Answer 1

Try the following:

^\d{4}|10000(?=\d{3}$)

This will match either the first four digits in a string, or the string ‘10000’ if there are three digits after ‘10000’ before the end of the string.

You would use it like this:

preg_replace('/^\d{4}|10000(?=\d{3}$)/', '_', $string);

http://codepad.org/itTgEGo4