What are some alternative methods, besides manual editing or using UltraEdit, to efficiently replace multiple occurrences of a pattern in a PHP file?

When needing to efficiently replace multiple occurrences of a pattern in a PHP file, one alternative method is to use the `preg_replace` function in PHP. This function allows for pattern matching and replacement using regular expressions. By utilizing this function, you can easily replace all occurrences of a specific pattern in a PHP file without the need for manual editing or using an external text editor like UltraEdit.

// Read the contents of the PHP file into a variable
$fileContents = file_get_contents('example.php');

// Use preg_replace to replace all occurrences of a pattern in the file
$newFileContents = preg_replace('/pattern/', 'replacement', $fileContents);

// Write the updated contents back to the PHP file
file_put_contents('example.php', $newFileContents);