[RESOLVED] PHP solution needed!

[Prine]

Extracting data from an array

If i have an array with the following values

Maxi Grande
Maxi Medio
Maxi Piccola
Pillar
Pyramid Medio
Pyramid Picoola
Soft-Foot Medio
Soft-Foot Piccola

These are groups of bags. I need to extract the group name only from each value

So my desired result would be

Maxi
Pillar
Pyramid
Soft-foot

Im thinking i should use eregi function then an if condition. But im sure theres a much easier way of doing this.

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Thanks

[laserlight]

This is one way:

$names = array();
foreach ($array as $name) {
    if (($pos = strpos($name, ' ')) !== false) {
        $names[] = substr($name, 0, $pos);
    } else {
        $names[] = $name;
    }
}
$names = array_unique($names);

[NogDog]

Here's what I came up with:

<pre>
<?php
// test data:
$myArray = array(
   'Maxi Grande',
   'Maxi Medio',
   'Maxi Piccola',
   'Pillar',
   'Pyramid Medio',
   'Pyramid Picoola',
   'Soft-Foot Medio',
   'Soft-Foot Piccola'
);
// generate an array of uniques "bags":
$bags = $myArray;
function firstWord(&$val, $key)
{
   $val = preg_replace('/\s.*$/', '', $val);
}
array_walk($bags, 'firstWord');
$bags = array_unique($bags);
// show result:
print_r($bags);
?>
</pre>

[laserlight]

Yeah, my original solution is a little long winded. In retrospect, I think this is better and clearer:

<?php
// test data:
$myArray = array(
    'Maxi Grande',
    'Maxi Medio',
    'Maxi Piccola',
    'Pillar',
    'Pyramid Medio',
    'Pyramid Picoola',
    'Soft-Foot Medio',
    'Soft-Foot Piccola'
);

// generate an array of uniques "bags":
$bags = array();
foreach ($myArray as $name) {
    $bags[] = strtok($name, ' ');
}
$bags = array_unique($bags);

// show result:
print_r($bags);
?>

[NogDog]

@ laserlight:

Nice, I don't think I would have ever thought of using strtok() myself.

[Prine]

this place is filled with genius coders.

Thanks so much! I love learning new ways of creating logic!

preg_replace('/\s.*$/', '', $val);

Can you please explain the reg expression used here?

Thanks!

[suntra]

Remember : string functions should be used before using REGEX... so if you can do something with string functions, do it, otherwise, user PREG..

[laserlight]

Can you please explain the reg expression used here?

That matches for the first whitespace character and the characters after it, and blanks them out.

[Prine]

Oh ok, i think we can safely say this issue has been resolved. Thanks everyone !