more exploding an array

jpr

I am making, heres is some code that I need help with:

$keyword = explode(" ",$keyphrase);
array_unshift($keyword,$keyphrase);

$keyphrase comes from a search form the user entered, currently this script creates an array, the first element is the orignal string, the 2nd, 3rd, and so on are the individual words of the string. I would like to modify this so that if the user places "" around their search entry, then it will not be broken down into seperate words also. This way the search engine with only search for the string as a whole. Thanx!

Jason Rottman

mjlively

I would recommend first using [man]preg_match_all[/man] to find the quoted words and then extracting them from the string with a subsequent call to [man]preg_replace[/man] Then continue on as you were

Following is an example:

$matches = array();
//Extract the quoted words into $matches[1]
$parenthPattern = "/ *\"(.*?)\" */";
preg_match_all($parenthPattern, $keyphrase, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);

//remove the quoted words and replace them with 1 space
$modifiedPhrase = preg_replace($parenthPattern, ' ', $keyphrase);

//Now continue on as you did excpet tack on the quoted words
$keyword = array_merge(explode(' ', $keyphrase), $matches[1]);
array_unshift($keyword, $keyphrase);

There is a more efficient way to do that all through one preg_match_all call but I didn't have enough time to test it. I will look into it and post another reply however.

jpr

Seems to be doning something, not exactly what I would like though. I placed your code in my script, and used the following lines to test it.

$keyphrase = ""I am cool""; // representing that the user put quotes around the string at the form.

echo "[0] = " . $keyword[0] . " \n";
echo "[1] = " . $keyword[1] . " \n";
echo "[2] = " . $keyword[2] . " \n";
echo "[3] = " . $keyword[3] . " \n";
echo "[4] = " . $keyword[4] . " \n";

That outputted the following:
[0] = "i am cool"
[1] = "i
[2] = am
[3] = cool"
[4] = i am cool

I would like it to output this:
[0] = "i am cool"

thats because I dont want to search each word seperately if there are quotes around the string, I just want to search the string as a whole. Should the quotes get removed before comparing it at the database? Thanx!

jpr

By the way, how difficult would it be to be able to also use the + symbol. For example the user enters: "jason" + "is cool" Just a thought 🙂

Jason Rottman

mjlively

$keyphrase = 'I "am cool"';

$matches = array();
//Extract the quoted words into $matches[1]
$parenthPattern = "/ *\"(.*?)\" */";
preg_match_all($parenthPattern, $keyphrase, $matches, PREG_PATTERN_ORDER);
//remove the quoted words and replace them with 1 space
$modifiedPhrase = preg_replace($parenthPattern, ' ', $keyphrase);

$modifiedPhrase = trim($modifiedPhrase);
//Now continue on as you did excpet tack on the quoted words
if ($modifiedPhrase != '')
{
	$keyword = explode(' ', $modifiedPhrase);
}
$keyword = array_merge($keyword, $matches[1]);
array_unshift($keyword, $keyphrase);

Sorry, I had a wrongly named variable in there. I also added some more stuff to make sure it all works right.

jpr

Thankyou, seems to be working great now, its a cool piece of script. I have one more thing to ask now though. I have an array that looks like this:

minorword[] = "this";
minorword[] = "that";
minorword[] = "is";

..... and so on. Is there any way your script could be modified so that first it loops through this array and removes these minor words from the string, and then continue like it does now. Thank you!

Jason Rottman

mjlively

That should be no problem just drop the following code in above what I gave you before.

One thing to note is you are going to need to create a function to add 1 space to the begining AND end of a word. This will then be used on every word in your minor word list. The reason for this is that if you were to just search for and remove and remove the string 'the'. It would also modify words such as 'thermometer' to just 'rmometer'. Clearly not what is needed.

//The function to add whitespace
function addWhitespace (&$word, $key) {
$word = " $word ";
}

//Modify the keyphrase so ALL words are surrounded by spaces
//(Mainly the begining and the ending words are of concern)
$keyphrase = " $keyphrase ";

//Do the same to the minor words
array_walk($minorword, 'addWhitespace');

//Remove Minor Words
$keyphrase = str_replace($minorword, '', $keyphrase);

//Take care of potential whitespace problems.
$keyphrase = str_replace('  ', ' ', $keyphrase);
$keyphrase = trim($keyphrase);

Give that a shot