Using PHP to Extract number from a .CGI script

charliep

I am trying to write a script to provide users with PHP access to a database that is controlled by a PERL script. When I go to a script.cgi?p_id=123 it will return the following:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Product Listing - </TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY text=#000000 Link=#0000FF vlink=#0000FF BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF">
<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 WIDTH=522>$ 1211.95
</TABLE></CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>

I want to strip away everything else and produce a variable with just the number 1211.95 which I can convert from dollars to Euros and then write into a web page not associated with the original CGI script.

The format of the page will be the same every time. The number will ALWAYS appear after a $ and there will always be a space between the number and the $. The number may be shorter or longer, but it will not include any comas or other junk, other than the decimal point which I will need.

Any pointer on how I set about this would be greatly appreciated.

charliep

Come on, somebody help out here. This can't be too dificult. The number will ALWAYS be at the end of the sixth line, it will ALWAYS have two decimals, it will ALWAYS have a space in front of it and a $ in front of the space.

This should be pretty easy to grab out of the CGI file. I originally thought I could just use the Include PHP command to get the number but I didn't realize that all this other junk was going to be wrapped around the number. So what I am trying to figure out how to do is make a getnumber command that works the same as include and will just insert that number into a PHP page.

If anyone can help I will greatly appreciate it!

charliep

Any help here?

charliep

Finally got something working:

$filename = "http://www.url.com/script.cgi?p_id=100";
$output = file_get_contents($filename);
$output=trim(strip_tags(substr($output,strpos($output,'$'))),' $');
echo floatval($output)." / €".round($output*$euro,2);

I had to use the floatval of $output because without that $output included about 4 carriage returns and a space after it. Does anybody know why the carriage returns are attaching themselves on there?

Is there a way to NOT have to include the complete URL in the code? This would be better since there are multiple domain names for the site I am working on.

Which actually executes faster? To include all the expressions on one line or to break the output expression down into multiple lines like this:

$output=strip_tags($output);
$output=trim(strstr($output,'$'),' $');

One other question, does anyone know a URL where I can get a current value for $euro? I am figuring there has to be a URL out there somewhere where you call it and it gives you today's exchange rate between the dollar and the euro.
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