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# str_replace

(PHP 3 >= 3.0.6, PHP 4, PHP 5)

str_replace -- Replace all occurrences of the search string with the replacement string

## Description

mixed str_replace ( mixed search, mixed replace, mixed subject [, int &count] )

This function returns a string or an array with all occurrences of `search` in `subject` replaced with the given `replace` value. If you don't need fancy replacing rules (like regular expressions), you should always use this function instead of ereg_replace() or preg_replace().

As of PHP 4.0.5, every parameter in str_replace() can be an array.

Warning
In PHP versions prior to 4.3.3 a bug existed when using arrays as both `search` and `replace` parameters which caused empty `search` indexes to be skipped without advancing the internal pointer on the `replace` array. This has been corrected in PHP 4.3.3, any scripts which relied on this bug should remove empty search values prior to calling this function in order to mimick the original behavior.

If `subject` is an array, then the search and replace is performed with every entry of `subject`, and the return value is an array as well.

If `search` and `replace` are arrays, then str_replace() takes a value from each array and uses them to do search and replace on `subject`. If `replace` has fewer values than `search`, then an empty string is used for the rest of replacement values. If `search` is an array and `replace` is a string, then this replacement string is used for every value of `search`. The converse would not make sense, though.

If `search` or `replace` are arrays, their elements are processed first to last.

Example 1. str_replace() examples

`<?php
// Provides: <body text='black'>
$bodytag = str_replace("%body%", "black", "<body text='%body%'>");
// Provides: Hll Wrld f PHP
$vowels = array("a", "e", "i", "o", "u", "A", "E", "I", "O", "U");
$onlyconsonants = str_replace($vowels, "", "Hello World of PHP");
// Provides: You should eat pizza, beer, and ice cream every day
$phrase = "You should eat fruits, vegetables, and fiber every day.";
$healthy = array("fruits", "vegetables", "fiber");
$yummy = array("pizza", "beer", "ice cream");
$newphrase = str_replace($healthy, $yummy, $phrase);
// Use of the count parameter is available as of PHP 5.0.0
$str = str_replace("ll", "", "good golly miss molly!", $count);
echo $count; // 2
// Order of replacement
$str = "Line 1\nLine 2\rLine 3\r\nLine 4\n";
$order = array("\r\n", "\n", "\r");
$replace = '<br />';
// Processes \r\n's first so they aren't converted twice.
$newstr = str_replace($order, $replace, $str);
// Outputs: apearpearle pear
$letters = array('a', 'p');
$fruit = array('apple', 'pear');
$text = 'a p';
$output = str_replace($letters, $fruit, $text);
echo $output;
?>`

> Note: This function is binary-safe.

> Note: This function is case-sensitive. Use str_ireplace() for case-insensitive replace.

> Note: As of PHP 5.0.0 the number of matched and replaced needles (`search`) will be returned in `count` which is passed by reference. Prior to PHP 5.0.0 this parameter is not available.

See also str_ireplace(), substr_replace(), preg_replace(), and strtr().

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