Function to remove some special unicode chars of an unique string or a strings array

gistfile1.aw

private function _semAcentos($string, $returnFormat = 1){
		 
		if(is_array($string)){
	
			for($i=0; $i<count($string); $i++){
	
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[áàâãª]/u","a",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[ÁÀÂÃ]/u","A",$string[$i]);
				
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[éèê]/u","e",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[ÉÈÊ]/u","E",$string[$i]);
				
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[íìî]/u","i",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[ÍÌÎ]/u","I",$string[$i]);
				
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[óòôõº]/u","o",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[ÓÒÔÕ]/u","O",$string[$i]);
				
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[úùû]/u","u",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = preg_replace("/[ÚÙÛ]/u","U",$string[$i]);
				
				$string[$i] = str_replace("ç","c",$string[$i]);
				$string[$i] = str_replace("Ç","C",$string[$i]);
				
				 
				if($returnFormat == 1 || $returnFormat > 3 || $returnFormat < 1 || is_nan($returnFormat)){
					$string[$i] = strtolower($string[$i]);
				}else if($returnFormat == 2){
					$string[$i] = strtoupper($string[$i]);
				}else{
					$string[$i] = ucwords($string[$i]);
				}
				 
			}
	
		}else{
	
				$string = preg_replace("/[áàâãª]/u","a",$string);
				$string = preg_replace("/[ÁÀÂÃ]/u","A",$string);
				
				$string = preg_replace("/[éèê]/u","e",$string);
				$string = preg_replace("/[ÉÈÊ]/u","E",$string);
				
				$string = preg_replace("/[íìî]/u","i",$string);
				$string = preg_replace("/[ÍÌÎ]/u","I",$string);
				
				$string = preg_replace("/[óòôõº]/u","o",$string);
				$string = preg_replace("/[ÓÒÔÕ]/u","O",$string);
				
				$string = preg_replace("/[úùû]/u","u",$string);
				$string = preg_replace("/[ÚÙÛ]/u","U",$string);
				
				$string = str_replace("ç","c",$string);
				$string = str_replace("Ç","C",$string);
	
			if($returnFormat == 1 || $returnFormat > 3 || $returnFormat < 1 || is_nan($returnFormat)){
				$string = strtolower($string);
			}else if($returnFormat == 2){
				$string = strtoupper($string);
			}else{
				$string = ucwords($string);
			}
			 
		}
		 
		return $string;
	}