Web Programming

Advanced Bad Word Filter in PHP

2009-07-24T03:26:00.000-07:00

N.B. Guys, this is an old post and eregi_replace() is now deprecated in PHP so use preg_replace() instead.

Filtering of profanities is a necessity for most blogs, forums and shout boxes. There are plenty of scripts doing the rounds of the internet which can be harvested for the purpose, but I was'nt too happy with their level of efficiency so I made a small addition.

In addition to the regular filtering by matching exact strings, I also used the metaphone() function in PHP which is actually an implementation of the Metaphone algorithm which is a phonetic algorithm. This helped me to achieve greater accuracy by also filtering out similar sounding words even though they were spelt wrongly. An illustration of the results I achieved with my script and also the actual script are as follows:

My banned word list: "hell, stupid, idiot, bullshit, shit"

My test sentence: "He was a very Stupid boy, really stooopid, as sTUpid as stupid can be. A total idiot. He was determined to drag everyone to hell. Enough bullshit...enough bulshiit...I had enough of shiit. Now you iidiots can go to hel."

Result after filtering with my script: "He was a very ***** boy, really ***** as ***** as ***** can be. A total ***** . He was determined to drag everyone to ***** . Enough ***** ...enough ***** had enough of ***** Now you i ***** s can go to *****"

Result after filtering with a normal script I found on the internet: "He was a very ****** boy, really stooopid, as ****** as ****** can be. A total *****. He was determined to drag everyone to ****. Enough ********...enough bulshiit...I had enough of shiit. Now you iidiots can go to hel."

Most of the scripts I found on the internet failed to filter the words in red above.

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(N.B. My function is simply a word filtering function and does not remove HTML tags like. However this can be easily done using functions like strip_tags() etc.)

My bad words filter function:

// Create the string containing your list of banned words, comma separated

$banned_word_list = " hell, stupid, idiot, bullshit, shit" ;

// Test sentence to be filtered

$output = "He was a very Stupid boy, really stooopid, as sTUpid as stupid can be. A total idiot. He was determined to drag everyone to hell. Enough bullshit...enough bulshiit...I had enough of shiit. Now you iidiots can go to hel." ;

// The Function accepts two parameters, $checkstr is the string containing your banned word list and $output is the text to be filtered

function wordfilter($checkstr,$output){

/////////////////////////////////// Regaular Cleaning

$iarray = explode(",",$checkstr) ;

foreach($iarray as $i){

$output = eregi_replace(trim($i),' ***** ',$output) ;

}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

////////////////////////////////////// Phonetic Filter

foreach($iarray as $i){

//---------------------------------------------------------------- 1

$checkz = explode(" ",$output) ;

foreach($checkz as $c){

//---------------------------------------------------------------- 2

if(metaphone(trim($c))== metaphone(trim($i))){

$output = eregi_replace($c,' ***** ',$output) ;

}

//---------------------------------------------------------------- 2

}

//---------------------------------------------------------------- 1

}

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////

return $output ;

}

// Function Call

wordfilter($banned_word_list,$output) ;

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Love Compatibility Test: Fun flash app based on numerology

2009-07-06T01:55:00.000-07:00

Not that I have faith in numerology or any such thing but friends find this application interesting.

It is based on the principles of numerology and programmed in Actionscript 2 and flash MX. The source Fla file can be downloaded here:

You are free to modify or use the source code or the app anywhere you like. You can add a link to my blog if you want to but its not mandatory in any way. Once again, this is just a fun app, not to be taken too seriously. Happy coding...

(I also made a Google Gadget out of my flash. To install the gadget in your blog, you can use the following link:

http://hosting.gmodules.com/ig/gadgets/file/116568157367755175191/mylovetest.xml )

Script for auto adjusting div heights in a three column layout

2009-07-02T04:55:00.000-07:00

Most web developers face this problem when they work with three column layouts containing three parallel divs, especially when the heights of the parallel divs are not fixed and vary according to the content in each of the divs and the divs have a background. Due to the unequal heights of the divs, the backgrounds do not stretch and effect is not very pleasing. (Refer to image 1. at the bottom of the page)

I have written a small script which automatically sets the height of the three divs to the height of the div which has maximum content and applying backgroud colors or images to the divs is no longer an issue.(Refer to image 2.)

Script: (left, right and middle are ids of the divs)

Multiple YUI Calenders on same page (a simple method)

2009-07-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, we all need to implement popup calenders on our forms at some point of time, whether it's a Content Management System or a simple user registration form. There are numerous javascript libraries and scripts available for the job. The Yahoo! User Interface Library or YUI is one of the more extensive and popular ones.

Here I have outlined a simple way to add multiple YUI calenders on the same web page. There is just one function which can be called multiple times. All you have to do to implement multiple instances of the calender is call the function from the on-click event of the desired button and pass on the button and text field names as parameters. Happy Coding...

Dependencies:(make sure you provide the correct paths)

Function:

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