EXPLODE?

[nikko50]

How can I remove all empty values when I explode a string??

$friends = "jeff,john,,,clark";

$friendsArray= explode(",", $friends);

[Installer]

Try strtok():

$friends = "jeff,john,,,clark";
$friendsArray = array(strtok($friends, ','));
while (($item = strtok(',')) !== false) {
    $friendsArray[] = $item;
}
print_r($friendsArray);

// Array ( [0] => jeff [1] => john [2] => clark )

[stolzyboy]

another method

<?php
$friends = "jeff,john,,,clark";
$friendsArray= explode(",", $friends);
$friendsArray = array_diff($friendsArray, array(""));

print_r($friendsArray);
?>

[NogDog]

Not claiming this is any better than the other suggestions -- it's just the first thing I though of:

$friendsArray= explode(",", preg_replace('/,{2,}/', ',', $friends));

[Installer]

Out of curiosity (oh, and suspecting mine would be the fastest 🙂), I did this test script:

$friends = ',,jeff,john,,,clark,,geoff,,,sean,,mark,iola,,,,ione,,,isabel,judith,,,,,jane,janet,,';

$start = microtime(true);
for ($i = 1; $i < 100000; $i++) {
    $friendsArray = array(strtok($friends, ',')); 
    while (($item = strtok(',')) !== false) { 
        $friendsArray[] = $item; 
    } 
}
echo (microtime(true) - $start) . '<br />'; 
print_r($friendsArray);

$start = microtime(true);
for ($i = 1; $i < 100000; $i++) {
    $friendsArray = explode(',', $friends); 
    $friendsArray = array_diff($friendsArray, array("")); 
}
echo (microtime(true) - $start) . '<br />'; 
print_r($friendsArray);

$start = microtime(true);
for ($i = 1; $i < 100000; $i++) {
    $friendsArray = explode(",", preg_replace('/,{2,}/', ',', $friends)); 
}
echo (microtime(true) - $start) . '<br />'; 
print_r($friendsArray);

with these typical results:

3.5671348571777
Array ( [0] => jeff [1] => john [2] => clark [3] => geoff [4] => sean [5] => mark [6] => iola [7] => ione [8] => isabel [9] => judith [10] => jane [11] => janet )
6.4273660182953
Array ( [2] => jeff [3] => john [6] => clark [8] => geoff [11] => sean [13] => mark [14] => iola [18] => ione [21] => isabel [22] => judith [27] => jane [28] => janet )
4.5079989433289
Array ( [0] => [1] => jeff [2] => john [3] => clark [4] => geoff [5] => sean [6] => mark [7] => iola [8] => ione [9] => isabel [10] => judith [11] => jane [12] => janet [13] => )

The times are pretty consistent run to run and with different orders.

As you can see, stolzyboy's results need reindexing, and NogDog's routine needs tweaking to remove empty elements at the front and back.

hth

[Weedpacket]

The first one I came up with:

$friendsArray = array_filter(explode(',', $friends));

assuming there are no friends named "0".
The second:

$friends = preg_replace('/,,+/', ',', $friends); // Fix the data first
$friendsArray = explode(',', $friends);

The third:

$friendsArray = preg_split('/,/', $friends, -1,  PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

[Installer]

Congratulations, Weedpacket, your first routine is the fastest, although its results also need reindexing; the second also returns empty elements.

3.9129049777985
Array ( [0] => jeff [1] => john [2] => clark [3] => geoff [4] => sean [5] => mark [6] => iola [7] => ione [8] => isabel [9] => judith [10] => jane [11] => janet ) 
6.4168510437012
Array ( [2] => jeff [3] => john [6] => clark [8] => geoff [11] => sean [13] => mark [14] => iola [18] => ione [21] => isabel [22] => judith [27] => jane [28] => janet ) 
4.5439269542694
Array ( [0] => [1] => jeff [2] => john [3] => clark [4] => geoff [5] => sean [6] => mark [7] => iola [8] => ione [9] => isabel [10] => judith [11] => jane [12] => janet [13] => ) 
2.9978330135345
Array ( [2] => jeff [3] => john [6] => clark [8] => geoff [11] => sean [13] => mark [14] => iola [18] => ione [21] => isabel [22] => judith [27] => jane [28] => janet ) 
4.5457677841187
Array ( [0] => [1] => jeff [2] => john [3] => clark [4] => geoff [5] => sean [6] => mark [7] => iola [8] => ione [9] => isabel [10] => judith [11] => jane [12] => janet [13] => ) 
5.9881210327148
Array ( [0] => jeff [1] => john [2] => clark [3] => geoff [4] => sean [5] => mark [6] => iola [7] => ione [8] => isabel [9] => judith [10] => jane [11] => janet )

(Routines in order posted.)