Using str_replace so that it only acts on the first match?

Question

I want a version of str_replace() that only replaces the first occurrence of $search in the $subject. Is there an easy solution to thi

Answer 1

Here's a simple class I created to wrap our slightly modified str_replace() functions.

Our php::str_rreplace() function also allows you to carry out a reverse, limited str_replace() which can be very handy when trying to replace only the final X instance(s) of a string.

These examples both use preg_replace().

' with ''
    *
    * @param string   $find
    * @param string   $replace
    * @param string   $subject
    * @param int      $replacement_limit | -1 to replace all references
    *
    * @return string
    */
    public static function str_replace($find, $replace, $subject, $replacement_limit = -1) {
        $find_pattern = str_replace('/', '\/', $find);
        return preg_replace('/' . $find_pattern . '/', $replace, $subject, $replacement_limit);
    }

    /**
    * str_replace() from the end of a string that can also be limited e.g. replace only the last instance of '