Using PHP replace regex with regex

Question

I want to replace hash tags in a string with the same hash tag, but after adding a link to it

Example:

$text = \"any word here related to #English mu         


        

Answer 1

If you need to refer to the whole match from the string replacement pattern all you need is a $0 placeholder, also called replacemenf backreference.

So, you want to wrap a match with some text and your regex is #\w+, then use

$text = "any word here related to #English must #be replaced.";
$text = preg_replace("/#\w+/", "$0", $text);

Note you may combine $0 with $1, etc. In case you need to enclose a part of the match with some fixed strings you will have to use capturing groups. Say, you want to get access to both #English and English within one preg_replace call. Then use

preg_replace("/#(\w+)/", "$1", $text)

Output will be any word here related to English must be replace.