Question

Using PHP 5.3.1 on windows.

I am just trying to add spaces between numbers and letters, but PHP is mangling my data!

$text = "TUES:8:30AM-5:00PMTHURS:8:30AM-5:00PMSAT:8:00AM-1:00PM";
echo preg_replace("/([0-9]+)([A-Z]+)/","\1 \2",$text);
> TUES:8:☺ ☻AM-5:☺ ☻PMTHURS:8:☺ ☻AM-5:☺ ☻PMSAT:8:☺ ☻AM-1:☺ ☻PM

My file type ANSI, no there is no unicode in the source.

What the fun is going on here?

Answer 1

try using $ are your backreference indicator, not ‘\’:

echo preg_replace("/(\d)(\w)/","$1 $2",$text);

I’m betting \1 is getting translated to something funky… notice the strange characters don’t change between the minutes input being ’30’ and ’00’

the php manual says you should double-escape your backreference, or use $ (if you are using a version 4.04 or newer)