What are the advantages of using preg_replace() over str_replace() for replacing text in PHP, especially when dealing with special characters?

When dealing with special characters in PHP, using preg_replace() over str_replace() offers the advantage of using regular expressions to provide more flexible and powerful pattern matching capabilities. This is particularly useful when you need to replace text that follows a specific pattern or contains special characters. Additionally, preg_replace() allows for more advanced replacements, such as using back-references to capture and reuse parts of the matched pattern in the replacement string. 

// Example of using preg_replace() to replace text with special characters
$text = "Hello, world!";
$pattern = "/world/";
$replacement = "PHP";
$new_text = preg_replace($pattern, $replacement, $text);
echo $new_text; // Output: Hello, PHP!

Keywords

preg_replace str_replace special characters advantages text replacement

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