php - Preg Match multiple br tags -

php - Preg Match multiple br tags -

i have textarea users come in comments , using nl2br allow them add together spaces between blocks of text. replace occurrences 3 or more br tags appear in row , replace them single tag.

one or 2 br tags don't replaced they're fine anymore more needs replaced single tag.

this regular look have far

$comment = preg_replace('/(<br \/>){3,}/', '<br />', $comment);

$comment variable is

one<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> two<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> three<br /> <br /> 4

changing regex

$comment = preg_replace('/(<br \/>)/', '-', $comment);

replaces br tags hyphens, seems it's {3,} i'm not sure.

you can utilize next regular expression. since repeating tags on same line or separated newline sequence, need business relationship whitespace.

$comment = preg_replace('~(?:<br />\s*){3,}~', '<br />', $comment);

regex explanation | code demo

if logical reason removes whitespace want retained, utilize ...

$comment = preg_replace('~(?:<br />\r?){3,}~', '<br />', $comment);

php regex