[Resolved] Problem with finding and deleting line from file

[ehask]

Hello all,

I have a file that keeps info for a forum. I inherited this nightmare so I am dealing with it till I integrate another forum.

The text file looks like this

0|||Eric|||[e-mail]|||
12|||Sally|||[e-mail]|||
18|||Joe|||[e-mail]|||

I wrote this code to delete a user from this file but I am having issues

$filename = './users.php';
$to_replace = "18|||"; 

$farr = file($filename, "r"); 
$line = array_search($to_replace, $farr, FALSE); 
array_splice($farr, $line, 1);
$contenu = implode("\n", $farr); 
$fp = fopen("users.php", "w+"); 
fputs($fp, $contenu); 
fclose($fp);

But All I end up with now is a file that looks like this:

0|||Eric|||[e-mail]|||

12|||Sally|||[e-mail]|||

18|||Joe|||[e-mail]|||

and it doesnt delete it just seems to add \n's to it.

I need to be able to find the entry by their id #

thx for any pointers

Eric

[Installer]

Try this:

$filename = './users.php'; 
$to_replace = '18|||';  

$farr = file($filename);  

foreach ($farr as $key => $value) {
    if (strpos($value, $to_replace) === 0) {
        array_splice($farr, $key, 1);
        break;
    }
}
$contenu = implode('', $farr);  

$fp = fopen($filename, 'w');  

fwrite($fp, $contenu);  

fclose($fp);

"array_search()" looks to match the entire value, not just a substring of it. "file()" doesn't take a read/write parameter--it just reads. It also preserves the line endings, so you don't need to add more with "implode()".

Edit: It would probably be better to replace "strpos($value, $to_replace)" with "strpos(trim($value), $to_replace)", to prevent stray spaces at the beginning of any line from messing things up. Also be sure to use "===", not "==" with "strpos()" to prevent "false" from causing a typeless match.

[ehask]

Here is what I eneded up writing and using it looks very similar to yours.

$filename = 'users.php';
$to_replace = "18"; 

$farr = file($filename, "r"); 

foreach($farr as $data){
 $data = trim ($data);
 list($id, $name, $pass, $u3, $u4, $u5, $u6, $u7, $u8, $u9, $u10, $u11, $u12, $u13) = explode("|||", $data);
 if($id != $to_replace){
   $recent[] = $data;
   echo $id . ' '. $name; // Echo for debug
   echo '<br>'; // // Echo for debug
  }
}
$contents = implode("\n", $recent); 
$fp = fopen("users.php", "w+"); 
fputs($fp, $contents); 
fclose($fp);

I rethunk it and said the hell with array search and used explode and list.

It works good but I suppose could be done better.

Thanks!!

Eric

[Installer]

...it looks very similar to yours.

Umm...if you say so. 🙂

...I suppose could be done better.

You mean...like mine? 🆒

BTW, as I said before, "file()" doesn't take a read/write parameter. The "r" in your code is probably being taken as == "true" or "1" which means to use the include path. Also, the "list()" line could be shortened to

list($id) = explode("|||", $data); 

and achieve the same desired result.

[ehask]

Cool thanks!!

That worked great!