25 May 2004

Convert txt-list to HTML-list

The following PHP code converts a txt list to at html list. Look at example below. Nothing new in this… alot of Wiki pages can do that, I just thought it was cool. After using alot of time to figure out how (new to regular expressions) it makes you wanna show it to the world:

/*
 * This function isn't supposed to be called directly
 * But through encodeList()
 ************************************/

function encodeListElements($text) {
  return preg_replace("/^\s?(([\*|\-]) (.*?))\n/m", "<li>\\3</li>", $text);
}

function encodeList($text) {
  return preg_replace("/\n((\s?(([\*|\-]) (.*?))\n)+)/sie", "'<ul>' . encodeListElements('$1') .'</ul>'", $text);
}

Note: Your browser might split up the code lines, so make a double check.

Example

txt:

* Milk
* Water
* Coca Cola

html:

<ul>
<li>Milk</li>
<li>Water</li>
<li>Coca Cola</li>
</ul>