PHP - Remove DOTs from text but exclude numbers

Question

I want remove dots (.) in a string containing numbers and text.

Ex: S.D.M.S to SDMS

But I want to leave the (.) in numbers as it is.

Ex: 123.50 to 123.50

I tried str_replace(), but it removed all (.)s

How can I do it in PHP?

Answer 1

Using preg_replace:

$result = preg_replace('/(?<!\d)\.(?!\d)/', '', $string);

where

• (?<!\d) is a negative lookbehind, assumes there's no digit before the dot.
• (?!\d) is a negative lookahead, assumes there's no digit after the dot.