Question

$string = '1.this is the first2.second3.and thethird';
$string = str_replace('??', '<br> ??', $string);
echo $string; 
//output: 
1.this is the first <br>
2.second <br>
3.and thethird

What str_replace do i need?
please note that the frist number on output has no <br> tag.
thanks

Answer 1

$ cat scratch.php
<?php
$string = '1.this is the first2.second3.and thethird';
$string = preg_replace('/([^0-9])([0-9]+\.)/', "\$1 <br>\n\$2", $string);
echo $string; 



$ php scratch.php | more
1.this is the first <br>
2.second <br>
3.and thethird



$