Splitting a string and then stick it back together

n4ows

I have two fields that I'm getting from a database table. I want to grab them, split them into an array, sort them and then stick them back together again so I can compare them to see if they are equal. I don't have control over how these get entered into the table. One is just straight characters and the other is comma separated. So, would this be the best solution?:

$var1 = value($sql, $db);
$var1Array = str_split($var1);
sort($var1Array);
$var1 = implode("",$var1Array);

and then the comma separated one...

$var2 = value($sql, $db);
$var2= str_replace(" ","",$var2;
$var2 = str_replace(",","",$var2);
$var2Array = str_split($var2);
sort($var2Array);
$var2 = implode("",$var2Array);

and then compare then they are in the same order and format to see if they are the same. Is there a better or easier way to do this.

Note: value($sql, $db) is a function that I have that returns a single value from a sql statement. I this case:

SELECT cad
FROM CompositeTable
WHERE loc = '$loc'
AND accDate = '0000-00-00'
AND acctNum = '$accnum'

laserlight

I have two fields that I'm getting from a database table. I want to grab them, split them into an array, sort them and then stick them back together again so I can compare them to see if they are equal. I don't have control over how these get entered into the table. One is just straight characters and the other is comma separated. So, would this be the best solution?

Probably not. A better solution, if feasible, would be to restructure your database to get rid of multi-valued fields. Unfortunately, if you really do not have control over that, then doing the matching in PHP would be the next best option.

Incidentally, you could change:

$var2= str_replace(" ","",$var2;
$var2 = str_replace(",","",$var2);
$var2Array = str_split($var2);

to:

$var2 = str_replace(" ", "", $var2);
$var2Array = explode(",", $var2);

n4ows

These are two different database table. I have no control over the table structures or the way the data is entered. Each is done by a user interface, so I don't have any assurance that the codes will be in order. Table 1, at least doesn't have commas and spaces in it.

The tables are from two different systems and actually the whole problem is much bigger than what I stated. The other cavet is that each table uses a different set of letters to represent the same thing. So, I have created a xRef table that has the code from table 1 with the description of the code and the xRef to the codes on the other table. If A in table 1 is B in table 2, then I have to check to see if table 1 is an A then table 2 is a B otherwise, I flag the document in a report for the data entry people to get together and figure out which code is right and which needs to be fixed.

YIKES!

jkurrle

I guess the first question is how exactly do you know where one piece of data ends and the next piece begins in your data files? The comma separated one is easy, but how is the data structure laid out in the other file?

As far as translation table goes, you're pretty much on the money. One way to speed it up would be to load the table into an array and use the array for processing translations. If it were just a few lines, it wouldn't be a big deal, but if you are dealing with hundreds or thousands of lines, an array would be faster.