How to split a value by str_replace into wpallimport for using category

For importing articles by wpallimport, I want them to be in the right category. In the csv file there is a column with several (sub) categories, separated by a space. Now i want to replace the space with > by means of the str_replace function, only there are article groups with the text "abcd & efgh", the space and & space will also have to be replaced by > sign. Is this possible?

The value groep[1] is: PRINTER INKT & PAPIER

[str_replace(" ", ">", {groep[1]})]

It gives as result:

printer (group)
--inkt  (subgroup)
---&    (subgroup)
----papier (subgroup)

i need as result:

printer (group)
-inkt & papier (subgroup)

Solution

You can use regular expression functions, instead of plain str_replace.

function preg_match_all($pattern, $string, $matches) will find all occurrences of the pattern in the string, and return them in the first element of the output $matches array

  $s = "PRINTER INKT & PAPIER ONE & TWO & THREE";
  if (preg_match_all('#\S+(\s&\s\S+)*#', $s, $matches)) {
    // $matches[0] - is an array, which contains all parts
    print_r($matches[0]);
    // to assemble them back into a string, using another delimiter, use implode:
    $newstr = implode('>', $matches[0]);
    print($newstr); // PRINTER>INKT & PAPIER>ONE & TWO & THREE
  }

UPD. If you insist on using str_replace only, then you can apply it two times: the first - to replace all spaces to >, then the second - to replace >&> back to &:

  $s = "PRINTER INKT & PAPIER ONE & TWO & THREE";

  $newstr = str_replace('>&>', ' & ', str_replace(' ', '>', $s));
  print ($newstr); // PRINTER>INKT & PAPIER>ONE & TWO & THREE