In what scenarios would it be best practice to use preg_replace over rtrim or vice versa when working with strings in PHP?

When working with strings in PHP, it is best practice to use rtrim when you want to remove trailing whitespace or specific characters from the end of a string. On the other hand, preg_replace is more suitable when you need to perform more complex pattern matching and replacement within a string, such as removing multiple occurrences of a specific pattern. 

// Using rtrim to remove trailing whitespace
$string = "Hello World    ";
$trimmedString = rtrim($string);
echo $trimmedString; // Output: "Hello World"

// Using preg_replace to remove specific pattern
$string = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
$replacedString = preg_replace('/\bfox\b/', 'cat', $string);
echo $replacedString; // Output: "The quick brown cat jumps over the lazy dog"

Keywords

preg_replace rtrim strings PHP scenarios

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