Get all alphabets in a string of words using regex (including spaces)

Question

How would I extract all alpha characters (including space) like for example:

@john camel07 st.doe!

where I only want to get john camel stdoe.

I tried using the regex from this another SO question but it does not work.

vks · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-03T05:37:00.930

2

$re = "/[^a-zA-Z ]+/"; 
$str = "@john camel07 st.doe!"; 
$subst = ""; 

$result = preg_replace($re, $subst, $str);

You can simply replace by empty string all non alpha and space characters.See demo.

edited Jul 03 '15 at 05:37

answered Jul 03 '15 at 05:32

vks

2

You could add a `+` after the character class, so it can replace multiple adjacent characters at once. – Tim Pietzcker Jul 03 '15 at 05:34
@vks What about `"/[^a-z\s]+/i"`. better? – Tushar Jul 03 '15 at 05:42
@Tushar yeah a better one :) there's no need for space after `\s`.But this will also replace `newlines` – vks Jul 03 '15 at 05:44

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

1

If your data contains unicode, this should work a bit better:

echo preg_replace("/[^[:alpha:][:space:]]/ui", '', '@john camel07 st.doe!');

edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Community

answered Jul 03 '15 at 05:42

Aziz Saleh

2 Answers2