php regex to match outside of html tags
pcre, php, preg-replace, regex
Solution
You can use an assertion for that, as you just have to ensure that the searched words occur somewhen after an `>`, or before any `<`. The latter test is easier to accomplish as lookahead assertions can be variable length:
/(asf|foo|barr)(?=[^>]*(<|$))/
See also http://www.regular-expressions.info/lookaround.html for a nice explanation of that assertion syntax.
Problem
I am making a preg_replace on html page. My pattern is aimed to add surrounding tag to some words in html. However, sometimes my regular expression modifies html tags. For example, when I try to replace this text: ``` <a href="example.com" alt="yasar home page">yasar</a> ``` So that `yasar` reads `<span class="selected-word">yasar</span>` , my regular expression also replaces yasar in alt attribute of anchor tag. Current `preg_replace()` I am using looks like this: ``` preg_replace("/(asf|gfd|oyws)/", '<span class=something>${1}</span>',$target); ``` How can I make a regular expression, so that it doesn't match anything inside a html tag?