Regex to match words or phrases in string but NOT match if part of a URL or inside tags. (php)

Question

I am aware that regex is not ideal for use with HTML strings and I have looked at the PHP Simple HTML DOM Parser but still believe this is the way to go. All the HTML tags w

Answer 1

Using the DOM would certainly be preferable.

However, you might get away with this:

$result = preg_replace('%Amazon(?![^<]*)%i', 'Amazon', $subject);

It matches Amazon only if

1. it's not followed by a closing tag,
2. it's not itself part of a tag,
3. there are no intervening tags, i. e. it will be thrown off if tags can be nested inside tags.

It will therefore change this:

I use Amazon for that.
I use Amazon for that.
My Amazon Link
It will match the "Amazon" in "My Amazon Link"

into this:

I use Amazon for that.
I use Amazon for that.
My Amazon Link
It will match the "Amazon" in "My Amazon Link"