title: how to verify that a string contains a character
body: <pre><code>$string = "#hello";
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I'm trying to have <code>hello</code> without the <code>#</code>. I also want a function to verify if the string contains the <code>#</code>.</p>
  
  <pre><code>str_replace("#", " ", $string);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>and neither does</p>
  
  <pre><code>strstr($string,"#")
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any ideas ?</p>