Remove strings from PHP array

Question

I want to search an array with words like "new" "York" "other" "thing", and combine only the ones that make up the words of a state.

In this example, I want the matches for states to be combined in the array:

From this:

<?php 
$states = array("new york", "Nevada");
$names = array("something", "green", "something", "yellow", "new", "york", "new","jersey");

To this:

$names = ( "something", "green", "something", "yellow", "new york", "new jersey");

Hence altering the the names array to combine the states.

In your example, how does it know to create New Jersey? If the $states array contained all 50 states, how would it know whether new applied to New York or New Jersey? — iainn
– iainn, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 11:32
Should there be New Jersey in states array? Do i get your logic? — Whencesoever
– Whencesoever, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 11:33
Two things need to be clarified here. 1. Should we check the two simultaneous array values only? e.g: "new" and "york. And not "green" and "yellow" since they aren't simultaneous entries? 2. Based on what logic are we getting new york? $states doesn't have new york — Indrasis Datta
– Indrasis Datta, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 11:42
@ObjectManipulator States does have new york $states = array("new york", "Nevada"); — Carey
– Carey, Commented Jul 18, 2016 at 11:50

Indrasis Datta · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-18 11:58:01Z

1

Before viewing the solution, take a look at the two assumptions made: 1. Concurrent array elements are checked in $names. 2. Checking is made with respect to $states.

$states = array("new york", "Nevada");
$names  = array("something", "green", "something", "yellow", "new", "york", "new","jersey");
foreach($names as $k => $v) {
    $combined_names = $names[$k]." ".$names[$k+1];
    if (in_array($combined_names, $states)) {
        $names[] = $combined_names;
        $names[$k] = $names[$k+1] = '';
    } 
}
$result = array_values(array_filter($names));

Output:

Array
(
  [0] => something
  [1] => green
  [2] => something
  [3] => yellow
  [4] => new
  [5] => jersey
  [6] => new york
)

answered Jul 18, 2016 at 11:58

Indrasis Datta

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Comments

iainn · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-18 11:42:09Z

0

Assuming you can solve the "New Jersey" issue in the comments, the following will map one array of words onto a target array (in this case states). The resulting array is then de-duplicated and re-indexed.

If the names need to only match whole words in the target strings, the stripos test can be changed to a more advanced preg_match;

<?php 
$states = array("new york", "Nevada");
$names = array("something", "green", "something", "yellow", "new", "york", "new","jersey");

$result = array_map(function ($e) use ($states) {
    foreach ($states as $state) {
        // The moment a match is found, return it
        if (stripos($state, $e) !== false)
        {
            return $state;
        }
    }

    // If no match was found, fall back to the word in the original array
    return $e;
}, $names);

print_r(array_values(array_unique($result)));

=

Array
(
    [0] => something
    [1] => green
    [2] => yellow
    [3] => new york
    [4] => jersey
)

answered Jul 18, 2016 at 11:42

iainn

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1 Comment

Mike Q Over a year ago

sorry, no I wanted to just combine anywhere it was a state ... so merge all of the state names if they are next to each other

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