csv - Using tabs spacing in php for text file -

i'm reading csv file , printing data csv file 2 .txt files. output of text files follows

john georgina,sinclair,408999703657,cheque,"first national bank",fourways,275.00,12/01/2012 toby,henderson,401255489873,cheque,"first national bank",edenvale,181.03,12/13/2012 

here code:

    $file_handle = fopen("debitorders.csv", "r") or die("can't open debitorders.csv");     $absafile = fopen("absa.txt", "w") or die("can't open absa.txt");     $firstnationalbankfile = fopen("first national bank.txt", "w") or die("can't open first       national bank.txt");        while (!feof($file_handle) ) {          $debitorders = fgetcsv($file_handle, 1024, ",");          if ($debitorders[4] == "absa"){             print_r ($debitorders[4] . "<br />");             fputcsv($absafile, $debitorders);              $absa_bank = "absa";             fopen("absa.txt", "a");             file_put_contents('absa.txt', $absa_bank, file_append);         }          if ($debitorders[4] == "first national bank"){             $fnb_bank = "first national bank";              print_r ($debitorders[4] . "<br />");             fputcsv($firstnationalbankfile, $debitorders);              $fnb_bank = "first national bank";             fopen("first national bank.txt", "a");             file_put_contents('first national bank.txt', $fnb_bank, file_append);         }     }     fclose($file_handle);     fclose($absafile);     fclose($firstnationalbankfile); 

how can put tab spaces in output file instead of commas, output instead looks this:

john georginasinclair    408999703657  cheque  first national bank  fourways 275.0012/01/2012 tobyhenderson       401255489873  cheque  first national bank  edenvale 181.0312/13/2012 

any appreciated. thank you

i did similar while although other way around. replaced tabs commas. here code used:

preg_replace('/[ ]{2,}|[\t]/', ',', $string); 

the code above removed 2 tabs , replaced 1 comma. maybe try way:

preg_replace(',', '/[ ]{1,}|[\t]/', $string);