A new project has me using Twitter’s search api.
The json returns text of each message, which is to be expected, but many posts have “@soandso” or “http://is.gd/lko6g” or something, and that kind of info can’t just be left to sit there now can it?

No it can not.

However, a little regular expression magic and presto! Links GAlore.

Using preg_replace you can quickly and easily replace each text version of ‘@johnmangino’ with @johnmangino.
The only “trick” here is to use the parenthesis to give you a reference that will allow you to make the user link without the ‘@’.

Here is a quick function used within the loop to href the links.
Import the function and run the text through it like so:

$text = $r->text;
$text = makeRich($text);

Hope you enjoy.

Yours truly,
$johnny