str_replace with correct length of chars

[coolguydudeman]

I am trying to figure out a way of filtering certain words from a string using str_replace - However i would like to replace the words with something showing the correct length of the word.

 

So far I have got:

 

<?php

$input = "Oranges, apples, and pears are all types of fruit!";
$words = array("oranges","apples","pears");

function convertType($x) {
$maskWords = array();
$convertChar = "*";
for ($i = 0; $i < strlen($x); $i++) {
	array_push($maskWords, $convertChar);
}
$convertString = implode(".", $maskWords);
$stripString = str_replace(".", "", $convertString);
return $stripString;
}

for ($i = 0; $i < count($words); $i++) {
$input = str_ireplace($words[$i], convertType($words[$i]), $input);
}

print $input;

?>

 

As I am fairly new to PHP I am not sure if this is the most effiicent way of doing this so I was hoping somebody could provide some input for me. For instance is there a function to convert the array into a full-length string without using a delimiter?

 

Thanks!

[AbraCadaver]

What would apple be replaced with?

[coolguydudeman]

Well "apple" would not be replaced with anything from the above code. But i was just using the fruit names instead of the actual swear words 

[AbraCadaver]

Well "apple" would not be replaced with anything from the above code. But i was just using the fruit names instead of the actual swear words 

 

No ****!  I meant as an example, if apple were the word, what would it be replaced with.

[coolguydudeman]

$convertChar = "*";

 

it would be replaced with, *****.

[AbraCadaver]

foreach($words as $word) {
    $input = str_ireplace($word, str_repeat($convertChar, strlen($word)), $input);
}

[coolguydudeman]

foreach($words as $word) {
    $input = str_ireplace($word, str_repeat($convertChar, strlen($word)), $input);
}

 

Thanks allot!