Reading variables from text files

Anon

I am fairly new to php. I am playing with several text files that have variables stored in two different ways. One text file stores the data like this:

hair=brown
eyes=green
gender=male

The other text file stores data like this:

hair=brown&eyes=green&gender=male

How can I read the variables from the text file and use them in my php program? I know how to write them to a text file, but have no clue as how to read them. Thanks...

Anon

Hey , you would do better to creat pages tha look like this:

<?
$variable1 = "name";
$variable2 = "somedata";
$variable3 = "somedata";
?>

then use an include on the page where you want to show the data:

<? include("myfile.php"); ?>

then reveal the data like this eg. page:

<body>
<? include("myfile.php"); ?>
I would <? echo $name; ?> like to call me<br>
</body>

hope this gives you the idea. basically you include the variables created in your file in another page and call the variables where you need them using the echo command.

Anon

echo $name should be echo $variable1, you get the idea.

Anon

I guess I had better explain something... I have over 15000 flatfile text files (*.txt) each with over 200 variables. I need to read in a variable from the text file (eg. hair=brown) and the php script that I am writing will put each variable into a mysql database. I am converting a site over from a flatfile perl site, to an advanced php driven site. It would take months to enter in each of the variables into the database by hand, but only seconds if I write a php script that will do it. All of the text files have exactly the same variable names, just different variables. All that I need to know is what function, or set of commands should I use to read in the text file, recognize the "variablename=variable" and be able to take "variable" and put it into the database under the "variablename" column. It is a very simple thing, I'm sure, I just can't find how to do that. There are two ways that data is stored: One text file stores the data like this:

hair=brown
eyes=green
gender=male

The other text file stores data like this:

hair=brown&eyes=green&gender=male

Please give me an example of how to write it... Thanks!!!

staffanolin

Does the variable come in the same order in all textfiles, you could read the file into an array ( $array = file("filename.txt"); )

Each element in $array, will contain one line from the file.

then you can get the values, like this for example:
$hair = substr($array[0], strpos("=", $array[0]), strlen($array[0]));
$eyes = substr($array[1], strpos("=", $array[1]), strlen($array[1]));

This is probably not the best way to do it, but I think it could work.

/Staffan

Anon

No, the variables are in different orders. But all of them are there. Thanks for the Idea, but it is not what I am looking for. It needs to understand the difference between variables. I know it can be done, I have seen it before, I forgot what script that I saw it in...

Anon

Let me try to make this more understandable:

Lets call a file "game.txt" - This text file contains 1 variable...

game=1

My php script needs to load the file, and read that the variable 'game' equals '1'. Now my script can use "$game" to spit out '1' wherever I want. The only dificulty that I am having is figuring out how to get php to understand that this is a variable and not plain text. This is how it has to be. I cannot use any other way. It must be able to read data from the text file.

If I need to make this any more simple, so that you understand, let me know...

Anon

$array = file("filename.txt");
foreach($array as $line)
{
$var_title_value = explode('=', $line);
//now it depends on either if you want the variable be called like in the file or if you want the name of the variable as value ...
//first guess
$a_unimportant_var = $var_title_value[0];
$$a_unimportant_var = $var_title_value[1];
//to take your example in the first loop of this foreach the var $hair would now contain the value 'brown'
//second guess well i don't think you need this one, so its ab bit sluggish 🙂
$value_array[$i] = $var_title_value;
$i++;
//After that you would have an array ($value_array) and every element of this array would be an array containig the name [0] and the value [1] of the variable ...
}
//now you can put your query in ... sorta like that
INSERT ... hair=$hair, eyes=$eyes etc...
hope that gives you the idea ... if you wonder about the $$a_unimportant_var, variable variables is the keyword to look for (e.g. here is a good resource: http://www.phpbuilder.com/columns/robert20000928.php3)

cya Rob

Anon

Hello!

Let me try to make this more understandable:

Lets call a file "game.txt" - This text file contains 1 variable...

game=1

My php script needs to load the file, and read that the variable 'game' equals '1'.

[...]

If I need to make this any more simple, so that you understand, let me know... <<

Thanks for your example but my problem is unlike yours:

When I mark a part of a message windows like this window - i.e. the second sentence - for quoting this part of text: how can I get this part into a variable with PHP?

Kind Regards
Reinhard

Anon

Well if I understood you right, then you can do it only with a little help from our friend js ... e.g. the quote function on this page looks like this:

cya Rob

Anon

Let me try to make this more understandable:

Lets call a file "game.txt" - This text file contains 1 variable...

game=1

If I need to make this any more simple, so that you understand, let me know...

Not sure, but I think this would work.

You may need to put this in a loop, and probably use the readdir() function if you want to read ALL the files... but this is the skin and bones:

$fp = fopen("FILENAMEHERE.txt", "r");
$file_contents = fread($fp, filesize("FILENAMEHERE.txt"));
fclose($fp);

$somearray = explode("=", $file_contents);

// So $somearray[0] is now the variable name
// and $somearray[1] is the variable result
// but you want the variable name to be what it was...

$$var = $somearray[0];

// Debug:
// echo $game ."<br>";
// echo $somearray[0] ."<br>";
// echo $somearray[1] ."<br>";

Again, not sure if that works but it's worth a shot.

.eregi