php str_replace issue or bug?

Question

I have the following issue;

Here is my string I'm trying to remove javascript:l(" from the string below:

javascript:l("Bayou-La-Batre");

My code is;

$q_string = str_replace('javascript:l(" ','',$row['1']);

But it's failing.

This is quicker than a regex replace and quicker.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

You left a space

$q_string = str_replace('javascript:l("','',$row['1']);

Answer 2

Change

$q_string = str_replace('javascript:l(" ','',$row['1']);

to

$q_string = str_replace('javascript:l("','',$row['1']);

Answer 3

Whenever I'm having this kind of problem, I try formatting my search/replace call in a monospaced editor to see if anything pops out

$q_string = str_replace('javascript:l(" ', '', 
                        'javascript:l("Bayou-La-Batre")';

Formated like that, it becomes obvious that the 15th character of the search string does not match the 15th characters of the string that's being searched ([ ] vs. [B]).

Try removing that whitespace and you should be happy.

Answer 4

You can use

$q_string = substr($row['1'], 14);

to get the same results with some speed gain. I have tested speeds of three function so you can see how they compare with speed.

$string = 'javascript:l("Bayou-La-Batre")';

$str_replace = function($string) {
    return str_replace('javascript:l("', '', $string);
};

print $str_replace($string) . "\n";

$substr = function($string) {
    return substr($string, 14);
};

print $substr($string) . "\n";

$preg_replace = function($string) {
    return preg_replace('/^[a-z:\(]+"/', '', $string);
};

print $preg_replace($string) . "\n";

function measure($function, $string) {
    $start = microtime(true);
    for($i = 0; $i < 1000000; $i++) {
        $function($string);        
    }
    return microtime(true) - $start;
}

print 'Substr: ' . measure($substr, $string) . "\n";
print 'Str replace:' . measure($str_replace, $string) . "\n";
print 'Preg replace:' . measure($preg_replace, $string);

The output of this on my machine

Bayou-La-Batre")
Bayou-La-Batre")
Bayou-La-Batre")
Substr: 3.7492098808289
Str replace:4.5258920192719
Preg replace:5.8815109729767