- trim: documentation ( source)
- stripos: documentation ( source)
- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$_content = '<p><img src="http://bla.bla/bla.jpg">As big a threat as ISIS is, the competition that truly defines the Middle East is the one between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Where do we fit in?<br clear="all"></p>';
$_content = trim(preg_replace(array('#<p[^>]*>#i', '#</p>#i', '#<br[^>]*>#i','#</br>#i'), '', $_content));
echo $_content;
if(stripos($_content, '<img ') === false) {
echo "\nNO IMG";
} else {
echo "\nIMG";
}