php preg_replace comment blocks

Question

the patern is like so

/* comment [comment goes here] */
/* comment please do not delete the lines below */
[I am a special line so I should not be changed ]         


        

Answer 1

This removes the comment blocks:

preg_replace('%/\*\s+comment\s+.*?\*/%s', '', $string)

And this get's rid of obsolete whitespace as well:

preg_replace('%/\s*\*\s+comment\s+.*?\*/\s*%s', '', $string)

Here's a test script:

#!/usr/bin/php

Output with PHP 5.3.4:

/* comment [comment goes here] */
/* comment please do not delete the lines below */
[I am a special line so I should not be changed ]
/* comment please do not delete the line above */
---


[I am a special line so I should not be changed ]

---
[I am a special line so I should not be changed ]