php - regex - prevent two characters from being adjacent -

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• batch script replace php short open tags <?php 12 answers

i need replace php lines <?=[something]?> this: <?php echo [something]; ?> problem there can in something clause ? , < can't adjacent. kinda new regexes , wrote messy expression: \<\?\=([a-za-z0-9()=#<>\[\]\\/'"._$\?:, \-]*)([;]*)\?\> , replaced <?php echo \1; ?>.

it works can't match this:

<?=[something]?><tr><td><?=[something]?> when it's in 1 line. matches whole line altogether.

any appreciated.

this code should work:

$s = '<?=[something]?><tr><td><?=[something]?>'; $s = preg_replace('/(<\?)=\s*(\[[^]]*\])\s*(\?>)/', '$1php echo $2; $3', $s); var_dump($s); 

output:

string(56) "<?php echo [something]; ?><tr><td><?php echo [something]; ?>"