- var_dump: documentation ( source)
- preg_match: documentation ( source)
- preg_replace: documentation ( source)
<?php
$string = '<u>\\n\\\\*HYPERLINK \\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VUsoeT9aM\\"A Youtube Video</u>';
$pattern = '/http[?.:=\w\d\\/]*/';
$namePattern = '/(?:")([\s\w]*)</';
preg_match($pattern, $string, $matches);
preg_match($namePattern, $string, $nameMatches);
print "original output:\n";
var_dump($matches[0]);
var_dump($nameMatches[1]);
print "\n";
$newString = 'Blablabla Beginning Text <u>\\n\\\\*HYPERLINK \\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VUsoeT9aM\\"1.A Youtube Video</u> blablabla Text Middle <u>\\n\\\\*HYPERLINK \\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VUsoeT9aM\\"2. A Youtube Video</u> blabla Text after';
$newpattern = '/(http[?.:=\w\d\\/]*)\\\\"([\s\w]*)/';
print "does the new pattern work?\n";
preg_match($newpattern, $newString, $allMatches);
var_dump($allMatches);
print "yep.\n";
$newReplace = '<a href="\\1">\\2</a>';
var_dump( preg_replace($newpattern, $newReplace, $newString) );