Dear ones,

I really need a script for my blog, but I can't figure out how to make it.

In my blog I allow visitors to post comments. For security reasons,
I don't allow them to insert HTML tags. So when a user posts a comment,
that comment is processed by PHP so that "<" and ">" are converted to
HTML entities. Tags are displayed but do not work, since they're not parsed
by the browser as HTML tags.

But what if the user tries to insert a link in his/her comment by simply typing the address?

It will appear as this: htttp://www.example.com/index.php?parameter=etc

But I want it to appear as a clickable link: http://www.example.com/index.php?parameter=etc


So I wrote this function.

PHP Code:

function parse_links($text) {
        $text = ereg_replace('http([^\ <>]+)','<a href="http\\1">http\\1</a>',$text);
        return $text;
} 


So the link is parsed and transformed into a clickable link <a href="...">...</a>

That's the point: if the user inserts a very, very long link,
the design of my blog will be destroyed.

Example: htttp://www.example.com/index.php?parameter=1&parameter=1&parameter=1&para meter=1&parameter=1&parameter=1&parameter=1&parame ter=1&parameter=1&parameter=1
So I do need a function that CUTS the link after the 30th character, something like this:
http://www.example.com/index.php?par...=1&parameter=1

Can you help me?

Thank you for your patience and attention.

Substring will do it:

PHP Code:

$link = "http://www.example.com/index.php?this=is&a=very&long=link&indeed=so&very=long&that=it&causes=problems";

$htmlforlink="<a href=\"$link\">".substring($link,0,30) . "..." . substring($link,-15)."</a>"; 


The first argument is the string to get the substring from, the next number isthe character to start at, and the last argument is optional and says how many characters to return. The code above will give you the first 30 characters, followed by ... followed by the last 15 characters.

Originally Posted by 0beron

Substring will do it:

PHP Code:

$link = "http://www.example.com/index.php?this=is&a=very&long=link&indeed=so&very=long&that=it&causes=problems";

$htmlforlink="<a href=\"$link\">".substring($link,0,30) . "..." . substring($link,-15)."</a>"; 


The first argument is the string to get the substring from, the next number isthe character to start at, and the last argument is optional and says how many characters to return. The code above will give you the first 30 characters, followed by ... followed by the last 15 characters.

No, it cannot work. The links are not isolated and put into variables. There is no $link variable.

Links are mixed with the rest of the comment itself, and have to be recognized and cut. Please, read my post another time and you'll understand. Thank you.

Oberon gave you a great example that will work for your situation. I suggest you read his post again and be a little more greatful.

There is no $link variable.

There will be after you have written it into the section of code that does the auto linking

Originally Posted by giacomogd1

So the link is parsed and transformed into a clickable link <a href="...">...</a>

If you have code to do this, you can use the substring method, or should be able to with very little effort.

Have you got this part working or do you need a hand with that too? Is it just the link length you want fixing or the parsing too?

I'm sorry I've been not kind. It's a matter of language, maybe.

I can't figure out how I can apply the solution Oberon provided.

This is the script (in a simplified form):

PHP Code:

$text = $_GET['text'];
$user = $_GET['user'];

/* TEXT PROCESSING BEGINS */
$text = ereg_replace('http([^\ <>]+)','<a href="http\\1">http\\1</a>',$text);
/* TEXT PROCESSING ENDS */

mysql_query("INSERT INTO table (user, text) VALUES ('".$user."', '".$text."')"; 


Where should I put Oberon's code in order to shorten the link?

Originally Posted by 0beron

If you have code to do this, you can use the substring method, or should be able to with very little effort.

Have you got this part working or do you need a hand with that too? Is it just the link length you want fixing or the parsing too?

The problem is to combine "link parsing" and "link shortening" processes together.
All the links have to be identified (and I already wrote the code to do this), and
their anchor has to be cut in order no to be too long (that's the code you wrote me).
Now let's do the two thing at the same time.

Thank you for your help.