[FIXED] How to remove all characters except Alphabets, Numbers and Dashes

Issue

I want to remove all characters except Alphabets, Numbers and Dashes. Here is my code

$tracking = "(TCS-123412&2)";
$tracking = preg_replace("/[^ \w]+/", "", $tracking);
echo $tracking;

The output is = TCS1234122

I want the output should be = TCS-1234122

Please help.

Regards

Solution

You need to include all characters which you do not want to exclude in the negative character class. Note that \w also includes underscore, which you presumably want to retain.

$tracking = "(TCS-123412&2)";
$tracking = preg_replace("/[^A-Za-z0-9-]+/", "", $tracking);
echo $tracking;  // TCS-1234122

Answered By - Tim Biegeleisen

Answer Checked By - Timothy Miller (PHPFixing Admin)