regex replace space with tab character

Question

I need to replace the space between the first and second column and second and third column with a \t only.

0101 A 01/13/13
0102 F 04/05/13
0209 C 04/19/13

But i am having trouble doing this, it is putting it all in one line and writing out \t instead.

preg_replace('/(?:^|\s)/', '\t', $text);

Its printing it out as so....

\t0101\tA\t01/13/13\t\t ....

How can i properly get this in the correct format?

Any help appreciated.

It is funny to watch everyone pounce on the regex questions... :^) So many ways to solve them. — beroe
– beroe, Commented Oct 19, 2013 at 2:40

hwnd · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-19 02:24:28Z

5

If your data is in a strict format like this, why not

preg_replace('/\s+(.)\s+/', "\t$1\t", $text);

edited Oct 19, 2013 at 2:24

hwnd

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answered Oct 19, 2013 at 2:03

Josh

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4 Comments

Josh Over a year ago

Thanks for the syntax adjustment - PHP isn't my first language by a long shot :).

beroe Over a year ago

If there is any chance of extra spaces (e.g., different number of leading digits), I think it was "safer" before the edit, with the original \w rather than .

Josh Over a year ago

Yeah...I actually didn't notice the . until I posted the comment. I'd have left it with \w, but if the format is really this consistent, either's fine.

hwnd Over a year ago

. matches any single character

beroe · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-19 02:08:43Z

3

Just search for a literal space and replace with \t... Unless your data vary more than that, none of the (?:) is necessary.

Are there other spaces? Are there more columns?

preg_replace('/ /',"\t", $text);

If I make a test.php file with:

<pre>
<?php 
$t="0101 A 01/13/13\n0102 F 04/05/13\n0209 C 04/19/13"; 
printf(preg_replace('/ /',"\t",$t));  
?> </pre>

It generates this:

0101    A   01/13/13
0102    F   04/05/13
0209    C   04/19/13

edited Oct 19, 2013 at 2:08

answered Oct 19, 2013 at 1:53

beroe

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1 Comment

Ja͢ck Over a year ago

This is basically str_replace(' ', "\t", $text);

humaorongrong · Accepted Answer · 2020-03-08 17:22:17Z

1

echo(preg_replace('/ /','\t','str str')."\n");//use【''】,result is:【str\tstr】,not work.
echo(preg_replace('/ /',"\t",'str str')."\n");//use【""】,result is:【str  str】,it work.

answered Mar 8, 2020 at 17:22

humaorongrong

133 bronze badges

2 Comments

Werner Henze Over a year ago

Can you please add an explanation!?

Twenty Over a year ago

@WernerHenze I do agree, the answer should include any explanation on what exactly the code does and how it solves the problem. Anyhow I do believe, you can formulate this somewhat nicer. For some people this might be offending, even if just slightly.

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