I've just put together this simple function which will convert your URL into a hyperlink. I've got the script stored in another file and include it on the pages I require, ie 'new article page'/'modify article page'.

<?php function url_to_link($text) {
$text =
preg_replace('!(^|([^\'"]\s*))' .
'([hf][tps]{2,4}:\/\/[^\s<>"\'()]{4,})!mi',
'$2<a href="$3">$3</a>', $text);
$text =
preg_replace('!<a href="([^"]+)[\.:,\]]">!',
'<a href="$1">', $text);
$text = preg_replace('!([\.:,\]])</a>!', '</a>$1',
$text);
return $text;
}
?>

Enjoy
Ryan Partington