Replace chars with preg_replace

Question

Using PHP, I need to change this

^0123456789...$

to this

0123456789xxx

1. extract optional ^ on the start.
2. extract optional $ on the end of the string.
3. replace all . for x.

Is it possible in only one ER?

Answer 1

The simplest way to do this is with str_replace, no regex required:

$string = '^0123456789...$';
echo str_replace(array('.', '^', '$'), array('x', '', ''), $string);

Output:

0123456789xxx