[RESOLVED] preg_replace not working

philweb

Could anyone tell me why the preg_replace function is not working on this script please, it is supposed to put a space after the first 5 digits of a phone number when it has been entered as 01234567890, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

I would appreciate any assistance or suggestions.

Thanks,

Phil

PS I am using php v4.48

$host = 'localhost';
$user = 'username';
$pass = 'password';
$db = 'database_name';
$file = 'export';

$link = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die("Can not connect." . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($db) or die("Can not connect.");

$replace = array(
'address_book_id' => '',
'entry_company' => 'Customer Name',
'entry_firstname' => 'First Name',
'entry_lastname' => 'Last Name',
'entry_street_address' => 'Billing Address1',
'entry_suburb' => 'Billing Address2',
'entry_city' => 'Billing Address3',
'entry_state' => 'Billing Address4',
'entry_postcode' => 'Billing Address5',
'customers_email_address' => 'Email'

);
function split_num($num){
	$num = preg_replace("[^0-9]",'',$num);
	$s1 = substr($num,0,5);
	$s2 = substr($num,5,11);
	$num = "$s1 $s2";
	return($num);
}
$values = mysql_query("SELECT zen_orders.customers_company, zen_orders.customers_name, zen_orders.customers_street_address, zen_orders.customers_suburb, zen_orders.customers_city, zen_orders.customers_state, zen_orders.customers_postcode, zen_orders.customers_country, zen_orders.customers_telephone, zen_orders.customers_email_address
FROM zen_orders


 ");

$i=0;
while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_assoc($values)) {
	if($i==0) {
		$rowr['customers_telephone'] = split_num($rowr['customers_telephone']);
		foreach(array_keys($rowr) as $title)
		$csv_output .= '"'.str_replace(array_keys($replace), $replace, $title).'",';
		$csv_output .= "\n";
	}

foreach ($rowr as $key => $value) {
	$csv_output .= '"'.$value.'",';

}
$csv_output .= "\n";
$i++;
}

$filename = $file."_".date("Y-m-d_H-i",time());
header("Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-disposition: csv" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
header( "Content-disposition: filename=".$filename.".csv");
print $csv_output;
exit;

nrg_alpha

philweb;10888365 wrote:
Hi

Could anyone tell me why the preg_replace function is not working on this script please, it is supposed to put a space after the first 5 digits of a phone number when it has been entered as 01234567890, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Focusing simply on the task at hand, here is what I came up with:

$str = '01234567890';
$str = preg_replace('#(?=\d{6})(?<=\d{5})#', ' ', $str);
echo $str;

Output:

01234 567890

What is happening here is simply a matter of using positive look ahead and look behind assertions and placing the internal regex's pointer to a certain position within the string and inserting a space from there.

Granted, you can probable use str_replace if the phone number is absolutely correct in format and length. But since you used preg (and since I need practice with preg, I figured what the hell 😉 )

Hope that helped.

Cheers,

NRG

nrg_alpha

Also, I noticed your preg regex here:

 $num = preg_replace("[^0-9]",'',$num);

This is becoming a common mistake I am seeing... your character class brackets are in fact being treated as delimiters (as preg requires delimiters which can take on the form of <> or {} or []..in otherwords, matching opening and closing braces / brackets).

Be mindful of this and use other delimiters instead (such as /, or #, or !, or % or.... you get the idea).

Cheers,

NRG

philweb

Thanks for the reply. Would you mind editing the script that I posted please? I'm a bit of a newbie and don't necessarily know everything about php.

Thanks,

Phil

nrg_alpha

Well, looking at your code, this function is what appears to need overhauling:

function split_num($num){ 
    $num = preg_replace("[^0-9]",'',$num); 
    $s1 = substr($num,0,5); 
    $s2 = substr($num,5,11); 
    $num = "$s1 $s2"; 
    return($num); 
}

So I am assuming that the variable $num is the number sequence you wish to add a space into after the fifth digit.. therefore, I would change this function to:

function split_num($num){ 
    $num = preg_replace('#(?=\d{6})(?<=\d{5})#', ' ', $num); 
    return $num; 
}

EDIT:

PS I am using php v4.48

Yikes.. you may want to consider upgrading.. that version is getting 'long in the tooth'...

philweb

I'm sorry but it still doesn't do anything to the result. I have numbers like this
01234 567890 and 0987654321 in the database, they are all downloaded to a csv file. The numbers with the space download fine, but the second just stay as 0987654321 format.

Thanks,

Phil

nrg_alpha

well part of the problem is that you have two different lengths of strings.. in your first example, you have 01234567890, then in your last post, you are using 0987654321. Both of these example are different in length. You would need to make sure that entries that do not have spaces are the correct length.

to play it safe, you can simply insert a space after the 5th digit, regardless to the length of the string. But you really need to regulate these kind of things:

function split_num($num){ 
    if(!preg_match('#\x20#', $num, $match)){ // does not find a space...
      $num = substr($num, 0, 5) . ' ' . substr($num, 5);
   }
    return $num; 
}

This will insert a space after 5 digits on an entry that does not have any spaces, regardless of the entry's length.

nrg_alpha

Admittedly, in the last snippet, I am checking to see if there is a space inside the function.. in reality, you would probably want to check the entry for a space prior to sending it to the function (in other words, if there is no space in the entry, go to the function and insert the space). But that last snippet would still do the trick.

philweb

Sorry again, but still no luck. Here is the whole script again.

$host = 'localhost';
$user = 'username';
$pass = 'password';
$db = 'database_name';
$file = 'export';

$link = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die("Can not connect." . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db($db) or die("Can not connect.");

$replace = array(
'address_book_id' => '',
'entry_company' => 'Customer Name',
'entry_firstname' => 'First Name',
'entry_lastname' => 'Last Name',
'entry_street_address' => 'Billing Address1',
'entry_suburb' => 'Billing Address2',
'entry_city' => 'Billing Address3',
'entry_state' => 'Billing Address4',
'entry_postcode' => 'Billing Address5',
'customers_email_address' => 'Email'

);
function split_num($num){ 
    if(!preg_match('#\x20#', $num, $match)){ // does not find a space... 
    $num = substr($num, 0, 5) . ' ' . substr($num, 5); 
   } 
    return $num; 
} 


$values = mysql_query("SELECT zen_orders.customers_company, zen_orders.customers_name, zen_orders.customers_street_address, zen_orders.customers_suburb, zen_orders.customers_city, zen_orders.customers_state, zen_orders.customers_postcode, zen_orders.customers_country, zen_orders.customers_telephone, zen_orders.customers_email_address
FROM zen_orders


 ");

$i=0;
while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_assoc($values)) {
	if($i==0) {
		$rowr['customers_telephone'] = split_num($rowr['customers_telephone']);
		foreach(array_keys($rowr) as $title)
		$csv_output .= '"'.str_replace(array_keys($replace), $replace, $title).'",';
		$csv_output .= "\n";
	}

foreach ($rowr as $key => $value) {
	$csv_output .= '"'.$value.'",';

}
$csv_output .= "\n";
$i++;
}

$filename = $file."_".date("Y-m-d_H-i",time());
header("Content-type: application/vnd.ms-excel");
header("Content-disposition: csv" . date("Y-m-d") . ".csv");
header( "Content-disposition: filename=".$filename.".csv");
print $csv_output;
exit;

nrg_alpha

I would make your function called split_num() like this:

function split_num($num){ 
    $num = substr($num, 0, 5) . ' ' . substr($num, 5); 
    return $num; 
}

This will insert a space after the 5th digit.

I would change your while loop to this:

while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_assoc($values)) { 
    if($i==0) {
        if(!preg_match('#\x20#', $rowr['customers_telephone'], $match)){ // does not find a space...
           $rowr['customers_telephone'] = split_num($rowr['customers_telephone']);
        }
        foreach(array_keys($rowr) as $title) 
        $csv_output .= '"'.str_replace(array_keys($replace), $replace, $title).'",'; 
        $csv_output .= "\n"; 
    } 

foreach ($rowr as $key => $value) { 
    $csv_output .= '"'.$value.'",'; 

} 
$csv_output .= "\n"; 
$i++; 
}

All I have done is check to see if there is a space in the current $rowr['customers_telephone'].. if there EDIT (isn't), this entry is sent to the split_num function. This is all reliant on that $rowr['customers_telephone'] exists and has adequate numbers stored in them.

Again, I am ignoring the mySQL stuff, as I don't have this info.. I am just going by what you have in the script. Hopefully this helps.

philweb

Sorry again, but still no luck. I have read through your script and it is brilliant what you have done, but I just don't know why it's not working?

Thanks,

Phil

nrg_alpha

Well, I just noticed that my segment within the while loop is only executed once (because of the if($i==0) part. At the bottom of the loop, the variable $i is incremented... thus, the top if($i==0) part is only used once.. then never again.. is this what you want? If you need to check for spaces every time, my segment needs to be moved out of the if($i==0) part:

while ($rowr = mysql_fetch_assoc($values)) { 
    if(!preg_match('#\x20#', $rowr['customers_telephone'], $match)){ // does not find a space... 
       $rowr['customers_telephone'] = split_num($rowr['customers_telephone']); 
    } 
    if($i==0) { 
        foreach(array_keys($rowr) as $title) 
        $csv_output .= '"'.str_replace(array_keys($replace), $replace, $title).'",'; 
        $csv_output .= "\n"; 
    } 

foreach ($rowr as $key => $value) { 
    $csv_output .= '"'.$value.'",'; 

} 
$csv_output .= "\n"; 
$i++; 
}

philweb

Yippeee, Yes, Wooohooo!

It worked, I am soooooo happy. Give yourself a pat on the back, well done my friend.

Thank you so much,

Phil

nrg_alpha

Glad it worked out 🙂

Cheers,

NRG