Replacing Multiple Spaces with a Single Space: Deprecating ereg_replace

While using ereg_replace to replace multiple spaces with a single space may seem straightforward, it has been deprecated. Consequently, you may encounter errors when attempting to utilize it. This article presents an alternative solution.

Migration to preg_replace()

To replace ereg_replace, switch to preg_replace(). Instead of employing the [ \t\n\r] pattern, which matches multiple spaces, tabs, newlines, and carriage returns, use \s . This shorthand character class encompasses all whitespace characters, effectively replacing multiple spaces with a single space.

Code Example

Implement the following code to achieve the desired result:

$output = preg_replace('!\s !', ' ', $input);

Explanation

• preg_replace('!\s !', ' ', $input) scans the $input string for multiple whitespace characters using the \s pattern.
• It replaces any sequence of consecutive whitespace characters with a single space, producing the $output string.

Additional Resource

Refer to the Regular Expression Basic Syntax Reference for further clarification on \d, \w, and \s character classes:

https://www.php.net/manual/en/regexp.reference.basic-syntax.php