Overview
This PHP function uses a Regular Expression (regex) to find any matches that could represent a valid URL and then replaces them with a clickable link inside the supplied string.
PHP Code:
<?php
#######################################################################
## URL DOESN'T REQUIRE http:// OR https://
## WILL DETECT IF LINK FORMAT IS CORRECT AND THEN ADD http:// BY ITSELF
#######################################################################
//The text to look for the link
$text = "The text you want to filter goes here. www.google.com";
//CALL THE FUNCTION
turnUrlIntoHyperlink($text);
function turnUrlIntoHyperlink($text){
// The Regular Expression filter
$reg_exUrl = "/(?i)\b((?:https?:\/\/|www\d{0,3}[.]|[a-z0-9.\-]+[.][a-z]{2,4}\/)(?:[^\s()<>]+|\(([^\s()<>]+|(\([^\s()<>]+\)))*\))+(?:\(([^\s()<>]+|(\([^\s()<>]+\)))*\)|[^\s`!()\[\]{};:'\".,<>?«»“”‘’]))/";
// Check if there is a url in the text
if(preg_match($reg_exUrl, $text, $url)) {
if(strpos( $url[0], ":" ) === false){
$link = 'http://'.$url[0];
}else{
$link = $url[0];
}
// make the urls hyper links
echo preg_replace($reg_exUrl, '<a href="'.$link.'" title="'.$url[0].'">'.$url[0].'</a>', $text);
}else {
// if no urls in the text just return the text
echo $text;
}
}
?>
