- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
function special_text( $content ) {
$search_for = 'specialtext';
$replace_with = '<span class="special-text"><strong>special</strong>text</span>';
return preg_replace( '/<a.*?<\/a>(*SKIP)(*F)|'.$search_for.'/m', $replace_with, $content );
}
echo "<pre>" . special_text('<a title="specialtext" href="http://specialtext.com">specialtext</a>') . "</pre>";