[RESOLVED] Help with explodes and implodes

sohost

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forums and I really hope to learn alot from some of you more experienced PHP coders.

I have been stuck with a problem for a little while now and thought it may be a good idea to ask for help from others that may know how to achieve that i need to achieve.

Basically, i have an array that is giving me a single key with a value, like this:

Array
(
[mydata] => name=item1;date=2010-01-01;status=Active|name=item2;date=2010-01-01;status=Active
)

You will notice the value is split with a | character.

I basically need to take that and try match the name and status, of a specific item between the |

So, there may be 3 or 4 or 5 items in that value and I need to find a way to match a specific one.

I was thinking of exploding it and using the | as a delimiter, in which case I get:

Array (
[0] => name=item1;date=2010-01-01;status=Active
[1] => name=item2;date=2010-01-01;status=Active
)

But now i am stuck with what to do next.

I need to match the name and status of a specific item only. So, i would want to match against 'item1' and make sure that it's corresponding status is 'Active'

I tried to use in_array, but the problem there is that the date may always change and i cannot match against the whole value each time.

So, what i am asking is how can i do this without frying my brain too much?

If someone can please give me some pointers, i would be forever grateful.

Thank you very much.

sohost

I think what I want to achieve is this...

I want to try match the name in this array (somehow), since the name will always be unique.

Array (
[0] => name=item1;date=2010-01-01;status=Active
[1] => name=item2;date=2010-01-01;status=Active
)

If the name is found in a specific key, then take that specific key and explode it into it's own array like this (using the ; as a delimiter):

Array (
[name] => item1
[date] => 2010-01-01
[status] => Active
)

When I have it in it's own array, like above, then I can do a an if (in_array)... and get the name and status and use them.

I a new to PHP so it's been hard trying to figure it out, but I'm sure there are some smart people here that can easily give me some advice.

I would appreciate it.

dagon

<?php

$array= Array('name=item1;date=2010-01-01;status=Active','name=item2;date=2010-01-01;status=Active');

$findme= 'item2';

foreach($array as $check){
	$pos= strpos($check,$findme);
	if($pos !== false){
		$e= explode(';',$check);
		foreach($e as $f){
			$g= explode('=',$f);
			$out[$g[0]]= $g[1];
		}
	}
}
echo '<pre>';
print_r($out);

?>

others would go the regular expression route

sohost

Wow, thank you so much dagon. Works like a charm!

I really appreciate the quick response, you saved me much time and head scratching.

I will definitely be spending more time in the forums to learn from knowledgeable people like yourself and hope to be able to assist others, when I am able to.

Thanks you again, very much.

bradgrafelman

dagon wrote:
others would go the regular expression route

Eh, I wouldn't go either route, really. What if the value you were looking for was 'date', which happens to also be a key name.

I'd rather do something like:

function find_val($array, $find) {
  foreach($array as $cfg) {
    $cfg_array = parse_ini_string(str_replace(';', ";\n", $cfg), INI_SCANNER_RAW);

if($cfg_array['name'] == $find)
  return $cfg_array;
  }

  return FALSE; // default condition if value wasn't found
}