I want to put links in my text such as many websites do based on certain words.

For example:

if a sentence on my site says "Those keychains are real great"

I want the word "keychains" to have a link on it.

I only need to do this in one block of text that will be in the same spot on each page.
I know I can do it in php by just exploding the block of text and searching for the word and then placing the link on it appropriately but I was just wondering if there is an easier way.

Thanks,
Stephen

Create a csv file (you can export from a spreadsheet app) with the text , link

keychains,keychains.html
headlights,lamp.html
door,door.php
car,vehicle.htm

Use this function:

PHP Code:

function text_to_links($text) {
  // Include our csv file...
  $linkfile = file('textlinks.csv');
  
  //$links = explode(',', $linkfile);  print_r($links);
  
  for($i = 0; $i < count($linkfile); $i++) {
  
    $links = explode(',', $linkfile[$i]);
    
    if ($links[1] != '') {
      $text = preg_replace('/(' . $links[0] . ')/im', '<a href="' . $links[1] . '">$1</a>', $text);
    }
  }
  
  return $text;
} 


Then pass the text as follows...

PHP Code:

// This is the text blob in which we will convert to links...
$textblob = 'Try our nifty new keychains when driving your car. Headlights and car door accessories are also available!';
  
// Echo the converted text wherever you want it placed...
echo text_to_links($textblob); 


Wow, you are amazing sir

Very nice, but there's still one tiny little problem with your script: if there's a word in your text, that's not car, but has car in it (cars, for example), it will be changed into a link, but only partly:

e.g.:

cars -> <a href="vehicle.htm">car</a>s

To avoid things like that, just modify the regex a little:

PHP Code:


$text = preg_replace('/(' . $links[0] . ')/im', '<a href="' . $links[1] . '">$1</a>', $text);

//becomes

$text = preg_replace('/\\s(' . $links[0] . ')\\s/im', ' <a href="' . $links[1] . '">$1</a> ', $text);