needing to replace part of a string...

[Anon]

OK, yes i know i could just create a new table for every user's items, but that seems like a waste when i can do it with one table field, so here it is...

oh yea, im using MySQL...

i need a way to remove or replace part of a string, like when the user removes the item. Now, i know most people would think substr_replace() or str_replace(),but i have a problem when using these...

substr_replace: I can't determine the startig index, or length arguments, being as they'll change...

str_replace: The user may have more than one of the same item, and this would replace all of them...

If anyone had any advice other than, use another table i'd greatlyapreciate it

[cordex]

Well, you could also store it as an array in the table.

But that wasn't your question.

$string = "an apple \n a pear \n an orange";
$tok = strtok ($string,"\n");
while($tok)
{
$itemarray_ar[] = $tok;
strtok("\n");
}

Now you have an array. You can change or remove any element you like.

Or, something like :

$newstring = substr_replace ($string, $newvalue_st, strpos($string,$search_st), strlen($search_st));

might work as well

-Ben

[drkatz]

Well, even though this breaks normal forms and gets the dbheads steamed, i find it's a quick way to store a list:

deal with your list as an array of items throughout your program:
$my_list = array();

each time you save to the database, wrap the data with a join function:
your_saveData_function(join(",",$my_list))

each time you fetch data, wrap the returned data with a split function:
$my_list = split(",",your_getData_function("my_list"))

Add a little error detection so that you don't end up with lists of ",,,,," and you're good to go.