Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier 'g'

Question

I got an error by this regular expression...

$strTmp = preg_replace('~(<\/CharacterStyleRange>(.*?)\n*</CharacterStyleRange>)~gim ' , "</CharacterStyleRange>", $strTmp);

Error

Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier 'g' in ....

Why?

score 203 · Answer 1 · edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:20

203

g is implicit with preg_replace(). You don't need to include it.

edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:20

Peter Mortensen

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answered Sep 27 '13 at 22:27

rid

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See [the other good answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/19061066/114558) on this question for more background. – rinogo Nov 27 '21 at 17:23

score 54 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:21

You don't have to specify the global flag. From the documentation, there is a separate parameter ($limit) used to specify the number of replacements to make:

limit The maximum possible replacements for each pattern in each subject string. Defaults to -1 (no limit).

So, unless you specify a positive number for this parameter, it will replace all occurrences by default:

$strTmp = preg_replace('~(<\/CharacterStyleRange>(.*?)\n*</CharacterStyleRange>)~im ' , "</CharacterStyleRange>", $strTmp);

score -2 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:19

-2

There is a / before the letter G in the string you're replacing.

edited Jul 04 '19 at 11:19

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 14 '18 at 05:29

Cparello

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this just threw that error for me "Glasshouse Images/Getty Images" My guess is preg_ sees that as an escape char – Cparello Jun 14 '18 at 05:30

Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier 'g'

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