- preg_match: documentation ( source)
- str_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$code = '8**';
str_replace('*', '[0,9]{1}', $code);
$course_filters = array('200','809');
if (!empty($course_filters[$subject])) {
foreach ($course_filters[$subject] as $key => $code) {
preg_match("/8[0-9]{1}[0-9]{1}/", $string, $matches);
if ($matches) {
echo "found = ".$code;
}
}
}