WireTextTools::findReplaceEscapeChars() method

Find escaped characters in $str, replace them with a placeholder, and return the placeholders

Usage

Available since version 3.0.162.

Example

// 1. Escape certain chars in a string that you want to survive some processing:
$str = 'Hello \*world\* foo \"bar\" baz';

// 2. Use this method to find escape chars and replace them temporarily:
$a = $sanitizer->getTextTools()->findReplaceEscapeChars($str, [ '*', '"' ]);

// 3. Process string with anything that you want NOT to see chars that were escaped:
$str = some_function_that_processes_the_string($str);

// 4. Do this to restore the escaped chars (restored without backslashes by default):
$str = str_replace(array_keys($a), array_values($a), $str); 

Usage

// basic usage
$array = $wireTextTools->findReplaceEscapeChars($str, array $escapeChars);

// usage with all arguments
$array = $wireTextTools->findReplaceEscapeChars($str, array $escapeChars, array $options = []);

Arguments

NameType(s)Description
str
escapeCharsarray

Array of chars you want to escape i.e. [ '*', '[', ']', '(', ')', '`', '_', '\', '"' ]

options (optional)array

Options to modify behavior:

  • escapePrefix (string): Character used to escape another character (default is backslash).
  • restoreEscape (bool): Should returned array also include the escape prefix, so escapes are restored? (default=false)
  • gluePrefix (string): Prefix for placeholders we substitute for escaped characters (default='{ESC')
  • glueSuffix (string): Suffix for placeholders we substitute for escaped characters (default='}')
  • unescapeUnknown (bool): If we come across escaped char not in your $escapeChars list, unescape it? (default=false)
  • removeUnknown (bool): If we come across escaped char not in your $escapeChars list, remove the escape and char? (default=false)

Return value

array

Returns assoc array where keys are placeholders substituted in $str and values are escaped characters.


WireTextTools methods and properties

API reference based on ProcessWire core version 3.0.248

Latest news

  • ProcessWire Weekly #582
    The 582nd issue of ProcessWire Weekly brings in all the latest news from the ProcessWire community. Modules, sites, and more. Read on!
    Weekly.pw / 5 July 2025
  • New ProcessWire admin redesign
    When you upgrade to ProcessWire 3.0.248 or newer (currently the dev branch), you’ll immediately notice something new and beautiful…
    Blog / 9 May 2025
  • Subscribe to weekly ProcessWire news

“To Drupal, or to ProcessWire? The million dollar choice. We decided to make an early switch to PW. And in retrospect, ProcessWire was probably the best decision we made. Thanks are due to ProcessWire and the amazing system and set of modules that are in place.” —Unni Krishnan, Founder of PigtailPundits