String replace / reverse word order

[Anon]

Hi,

I looked through the archives but could not find anything quite like this. I'm new to PHP so any help appreciated.

I have an MySQL database populated with data passed via excel from a client. It includes an ArtistName field that contains both First name and Surname in the following format:

Surname, Firstname

I need to remove the comma and reverse the word order so that the name reads naturally, eg:

Firstname Surname

Is this possible using a standard str_replace as the data is pulled out of MySQL (how?) or would I be better spending the time to split the First Name and Surname data across two fields in the database so that I can print the order as I please?

Many thanks,

Gary Crighton

[mithril]

$ArtistName = explode(", ", $ArtistName);
array_reverse($ArtistName);
$ArtistName = implode(" ", $tmp);

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.array-reverse.php
http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.implode.php

There are probably better methods.... but this will bet you started for now.

-geoff

[Anon]

Hi Geoff,

Tahnks for the tip but have still been unable to get this working. I suspect the problem is that the data is being puled out of MySQL and I'm associating the action I'm requesting with the fieldname correctly.

Here's my original code:

while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($query)) {
print ("<tr><td width='65%' valign='top'><font class='name'>".$row["ArtistName"]."</font></td>\n");
print ("<td width='35%' align='right'><img src=".$row["ArtistPhoto"]." width='80' height='80' border='0'></td></tr>\n");
}

I gather that $row["ArtistName"] needs to be associated with a variable, but not being a coder am not really sure on this one.

Cheers anyway,

Gary

[mithril]

I'd suggest you read the section of the manual dealing with the MySQL functions before trying to continue any further:

http://www.php.net/manual/en/ref.mysql.php

mysql_fetch_array() doesn't accept an SQL statement, it takes a result set identifier.

&nbsp;&nbsp;$conn = mysql_connect("your_host", "username", "password");
&nbsp;&nbsp;mysql_select_db("your_db", $conn);

&nbsp;&nbsp;$rs = mysql_query("SELECT ArtistName, ArtistPhoto FROM ArtistTable", $conn);

&nbsp;&nbsp;while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($rs)) {
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print ("<tr><td width='65%' valign='top'>".$row["ArtistName"]."</td>\n");
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;print ("<td width='35%' align='right'><img src=".$row["ArtistPhoto"]." width='80' height='80'
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;border='0'></td></tr>\n");
&nbsp;&nbsp;}

&nbsp;&nbsp;mysql_free_result($rs);

-geoff

[Anon]

Hi Geoff,

Thanks a lot for your input - the initial mail did in fact put me on the right track and I now have it working with the following code:

$ArtistName = $row["ArtistName"];
//Remove comma and reverse order of name.
//Only works for Surname, Firstname format
$ArtistName = explode(", ", $ArtistName);
$ArtistName = array_reverse($ArtistName);
$loop = count($ArtistName);
$this_loop = 0;
while($this_loop < $loop) {
echo ($ArtistName[$this_loop])."<br>";
$this_loop++;
}

A little verbose perhaps, but clearly legible to a beginner such as myself!

Thanks again,

Gary