PHP SoftHyphens Function

SoftHyphens.php

<?php
/*
This function will add soft hyphens after every 3rd character in words of over 10 characters. 
*/
public static function SoftHyphens($text) {
    $return = '';
    
    // Add spaces around HTML tag delimiters, to process them as individual words (to be removed later)
    $text = str_replace('>', '> ', $text);
    $text = str_replace('<', ' <', $text);

    // Split text into words using whitespace as a delimiter, also capturing delimiters
    $words = preg_split('/(\s)/m', $text, 0, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);

    // Loop through all words
    for ($j = 0, $wordCount = count($words); $j < $wordCount; $j++) {

        // Split word into letters (this method added to work around issue with multi-byte characters)
        $letters = preg_split('/(?<!^)(?!$)/u', $words[$j]);
        $wordLength = count($letters);

        // If words is an HTML tag or attribute, skip it. Attributes are hard-coded but could be dynamic.
        if (
            (strpos($words[$j], '<') === false)
            && (strpos($words[$j], '>') === false)
            && (strpos($words[$j], 'href="') === false)
            && (strpos($words[$j], 'target="') === false)
            && ($wordLength > 10)
        ) {
            
            $inside_character = false;
            for ($i = 0; $i < $wordLength; $i++) {
                $return .= $letters[$i];
                // Don't add shy hyphens inside HTML-encoded entities
                if ($letters[$i] == '&') {
                    $inside_character = true;
                }
                if (($inside_character) && ($letters[$i] == ';')) {
                    $inside_character = false;
                }
                if (!$inside_character) {
                    // Add a shy hyphen every third letter, unless it's a period or near the end of the word
                    if ((($i % 3) == 2) && ($i < ($wordLength - 5)) && ($i > 3)) {
                        $return .= '&#173;';
                        if ($letters[$i] == '.') {
                            $delayed_insert = true;
                        }
                    } elseif ($delayed_insert) {
                        // We added one near a period. Add one later, because the previous one will be removed.
                        $return .= '&#173;';
                        $delayed_insert = false;
                    }
                }
            }
        } else {
            // Add unaltered word to output.
            $return .= $words[$j];
        }
    }
    
    // Remove soft hyphens that are next to a period
    $return = str_replace('.&#173;', '.', $return);
    $return = str_replace('&#173;.', '.', $return);
    
    // Remove the spaces we added earlier
    $return = str_replace('> ', '>', $return);
    $return = str_replace(' <', '<', $return);

    // Return the formatted text
    return $return; 
}