How to parse html textarea input for special variable

I want users to represent a special variable say someone’s name by something like the string {name} in their text area submission, how do I now parse that textarea input with PHP or JS to convert {name} back to an actual name and not use {name} literally?

Answer

You can use str_replace to replace all occurrence of {name}. i.e.

<?php

$string = "someone's name by something like the string {name} in their text area submission, how do I now parse that textarea input with PHP or JS to convert {name} back to an actual name and not use {name} literally?";

$replaced = str_replace('{name}', 'MR.real name', $string);

echo  $replaced;

?>