Question

I’m trying to figure out what this does, and how to change it.

preg_replace('/[^\w\s]/','',$var);

I THINK this replaces all symbols with nothing (deletes them basically). What if I want to allow some specific symbols, what do I change here?

For example I want replace everything EXCEPT:

• /
• numbers
• letters
• spaces

Thanks.

Answer 1

^ means everything but this, so this replaces everything but word characters (\w) and whitespace (\s).

To replace everything except the characters you mention, use this:

preg_replace('/[^\w\s\/]/', '', $var);

\/ is the escaped version of /.