PHP Exercises: Changes the color of first character of a word

Last update on April 19 2025 11:50:54 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

9. Change Color of First Character

Write a PHP script, which changes the color of the first character of a word.

Sample string : PHP Tutorial

Sample Solution:

PHP Code:

<?php
// Define a text string
$text = 'PHP Tutorial';

// Use a regular expression to replace the first letter of each word with a span element with red color
$text = preg_replace('/(\b[a-z])/i', '\1', $text);

// Display the modified text with styled first letters
echo $text;
?>

Sample Output:

PHP Tutorial

View the output in the browser

Explanation:

Here's a brief explanation of the above exercise:

$text = 'PHP Tutorial';

Defines a text string with the content "PHP Tutorial."

$text = preg_replace('/(\b[a-z])/i', '<span style="color:red;">\1</span>', $text);

Uses a regular expression (/(\b[a-z])/i) with preg_replace() to replace the first letter of each word in the text with a <span> element having red color style. The regular expression looks for word boundaries (\b) followed by any lowercase letter ([a-z]). The 'i' modifier makes the matching case-insensitive.

echo $text;

Displays the modified text, where the first letter of each word has been replaced with a styled <span> element in red color.

preg_replace() function:

Syntax:

mixed preg_replace ( mixed $pattern , mixed $replacement , mixed $subject [, int $limit = -1 [, int &$count ]] )

Searches subject for matches to pattern and replaces them with replacement. The function returns an array if the subject parameter is an array, or a string otherwise. If matches are found, the new subject will be returned, otherwise subject will be returned unchanged or NULL if an error occurred.

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a PHP script to wrap the first character of every word in a string with a span tag for custom styling.
Write a PHP script to apply a random color to the first character of a list of words in a sentence.
Write a PHP script to change the font color of the first character in multiple sentences of a paragraph.
Write a PHP script to create a function that takes any string and returns it with a styled first letter.

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