How to check if it's a link or not in text ?

Hi , how to check if it's a link or not in the text ?
I used Preg_match function , but I think there are other nice and smart methods in PHP

Any help appreciated , thanks.

 

if what's a link or not in what text?

 

preg_match is what I would use as well.

 

I mean I'm searching for other ways , if you have some examples (not preg_match) please post them .

Thanks.

 

I'd help you, but I have no idea what you are asking

 

Why do you think preg_match is not smart to begin with? It does exactly what you want.

 

preg_match is highly efficient and a good solution, as it does not cause the script to execute slowly or lag. If you are looking to check whether a variable itself is a valid URL, as opposed to a body of text containing URLs, then you could try this:

<?php
	#checks a variable and determines if it is valid or not
	function valid_url ($url) {
		return count(@parse_url($valid_url)) > 1;
	}
	$valid_url = 'http://www.example.com/';
	$invalid_url = 'example.com/help/topics/138/';
	if (valid_url($valid_url)) {
		echo "$valid_url is a valid URL.<br />\n";
	}
	if (valid_url($invalid_url)) {
		echo "$invalid_url is not a valid URL.";
	}
?>

PHP:

 

thank you for example !

 

No problem, always happy to help.