- substr: documentation ( source)
- strpos: documentation ( source)
<?php
$a='I love you';
echo str_replace_first('z','ea',$a);
function str_replace_first($thiss,$that,$where)
{
return substr($where,0,strpos($where,$thiss)).
$that.
substr($where,strpos($where,$thiss)+strlen($thiss));
}