How Can I Efficiently Extract URLs from Text in PHP?

Extracting URLs from Text in PHP: Effective Techniques

When working with text data in PHP, extracting URLs is a common task. With the help of regular expressions, you can efficiently identify and parse URL patterns from text strings.

Regular Expression Approach

One method for URL extraction is using regular expressions, particularly preg_match(). Consider the following example:

$string = "this is my friend's website http://example.com I think it is cool";

preg_match_all('#\bhttps?://[^\s()]+(?:\([\w\d]+\)|([^[:punct:]\s]|/))#', $string, $match);

This regular expression will match all valid URLs in the text string, including their "http://" and "https://" prefixes.

WordPress Function

WordPress provides a helpful function called make_clickable(), which takes plain text as input and generates formatted output. This function is commonly used to transform text into clickable HTML links, including URLs.

To extract URLs using make_clickable(), you can download the latest WordPress version and refer to the wp-includes/formatting.php file. This function is suitable for handling complex text formats and includes various conditions to avoid extracting malformed URLs.

Additional Resources

Beyond these techniques, you may also find the following resources beneficial:

• [How to mimic StackOverflow Auto-Link Behavior](https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/15691/how-to-mimic-stackoverflow-auto-link-behavior)

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