[RESOLVED] help with returning a string from a text file

joe7410

Hello all,

I am trying to create a php script that will search a text file for a specific date and set the description which corresponds to that date to a variable.

Here is a sample of what the txt file might look like

0720 "This is description 1"
0721 "This is description 2"
0722 "This is description 3"
0723 "This is description 4"

And here is what I have so far.

<?php

$mon = date(m);
$date = date(d);
$datecode = $mon.$date;

$filename = "descriptions.txt";
$handle = fopen($filename, "r");

while ($dateinfo = fscanf($handle, "%s\t%s\t%s\n"))
{
list ($date, $description) = $dateinfo;
if ($date == $datecode)
{
$a = $description;
//some code here to end the while loop, maybe set $dateinfo = null?
}
}

fclose($handle);

The script finds the right date, but my problem is that $a is set to equal "This I want $a to equal the entire string This is description 1

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

laserlight

If each date and description is on its own line, [man]file/man will be easier. The code could be something along the lines of:

$datecode = date('md'); // No need to concatenate, use date() properly.
$filename = "descriptions.txt";
$lines = file($filename);

$description = '';
foreach ($lines as $line)
{
    if (substr($line, 0, 4) == $datecode)
    {
        // Extract the description.
        $description = substr($line, 5);
        break; // Or, use $description here instead of after the loop.
    }
}

// Use $description after checking that it is not blank.

maxpup979

try fgetcsv()--use a space as the delimieter, and I believe the enclosure defaults to double quote.

joe7410

Thanks Laserlight, that is exactly what I needed.

I only had to change one line in your code:

$description = substr($line, 6);

I have a tab after the datecode (position 5) so when I echoed $description in an html tag I got some funky output, switching it to 6 works perfectly.

It so nice to have another pair of eyes to look at your code.

Thanks again.

laserlight

You're welcome. Remember to mark this thread resolved (if it is).