jquery find http elements in plain text and convert it to a link

Question

I don't know if this is possible but I have a piece of plain text which always includes:

http://www.royalmail/portal/etc/etc/track.php?trackNumber=123345323

When dragged to my page from the database this obviously does not render as a link. Is there any way to select this piece of text (ie via the http://) and at the most basic wrap it with anchor tags - or more complexly - retrieve the address, wrap the address with anchor tags, and change the original http:// text to something more understandable such as 'Track Parcel'

It should be noted that there could be numerous tracking references looped out at once.

My containing HTML is as follows

<div class="message_holder"> <div class="mess_head" style="width:110px;"> <p><strong>Sender: </strong><? echo $row11['sender'];?></p> </div> <div class="mess_head" style="width:450px;"> <p><strong>Subject: </strong><span class="red"><? echo $row11['subject'];?></span></p> </div> <div class="mess_head" style="width:150px;"> <p><strong>Date Sent: </strong><? echo date('d/m/Y, H.ia', $row11['date_sent']);?></p> </div> <div class="mess_head" style="width:200px;"> <p><strong>Message ID: </strong><? echo $row11['message_id'];?></p> </div> <div class="mess_body"> <p><? echo html_entity_decode($row11['message']);?></p> </div> </div>

The plain text links will all show up in the 'mess_body' class. I have tried using html_entity_decode() but this did not do the trick. If there is an easy way to do this via PHP rather than JQuery it could be simpler.

You should do this using PHP, not Javascript. Why can't you just do <a href="<? echo html_entity_decode($row11['message']);?>">Track Parcel</a>? — Blaise
– Blaise, Commented Jan 13, 2013 at 9:57
The link reference is contained within other plain text therefore it needs to be identified as a link. — Sideshow
– Sideshow, Commented Jan 13, 2013 at 10:33

axel.michel · Accepted Answer · 2013-01-13 10:47:57Z

3

I would do it with PHP:

$text = preg_replace( '@(https?://([-\w\.]+)+(:\d+)?(/([\w/_\.]*(\?\S+)?)?)?)@', '<a href="$1">$1</a>', /* or <a href="$1">Your TEXT</a> */ $text );

If I guess right, the url can be in your message, so your code should go like this:

<?php echo preg_replace( '@(https?://([-\w\.]+)+(:\d+)?(/([\w/_\.]*(\?\S+)?)?)?)@smi', '<a href="$1">$1</a>', html_entity_decode($row11['message']) ); ?>

edited Jan 13, 2013 at 10:47

answered Jan 13, 2013 at 9:56

axel.michel

5,8741 gold badge18 silver badges25 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Sideshow Over a year ago

This makes it simpler than using my jquery idea but I can't seem to get your example working in my code - will continue to mess with this - thanks

axel.michel Over a year ago

@Sideshow added an example for your code. Do you get any kind of error, or could you provide an example message which can be used as a test case?

Sideshow Over a year ago

The script runs fine - an example message is as follows:Tracking Number: BY281883295GB The above Royal Mail Tracking Number has been allocated for Appointment ID: 1357901511AeA It may take a couple of hours before the tracking number becomes live on the Royal Mail website. Follow the link below for Tracking details: track2.royalmail.com/portal/rm/track?trackNumber=11111111111

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

jquery find http elements in plain text and convert it to a link

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

3 Comments

Related