How can delimiters impact the functionality of preg_replace() in PHP when replacing smileys?

Delimiters in preg_replace() can impact the functionality when replacing smileys because certain characters used as delimiters may conflict with the characters in the smileys. To solve this issue, it's recommended to use a delimiter that is not present in the smileys being replaced, such as a pipe "|" or a tilde "~". 

$smiley = ':)';
$replacement = '<img src="smiley.png" alt=":)">';

$text = 'Hello :) World!';
$pattern = '/' . preg_quote($smiley, '/') . '/';
$fixed_text = preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $text);

echo $fixed_text;

Keywords

delimiters preg_replace() smileys functionality impact

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