using explode() to split strings and set variables possible?

Question

Is it possible to have a string like this:

|
details==Here are some details
|
facebook_url==therweerw
|
random_word==blah blah
|

and get this:

$details = "Here are some details";
$facebook_url = "therweerw";
$random_word = "blah blah";

The main point is I'd like to parse this in a way that the string to the left of the "==" delimiter will become a variable with the string to the right as it's string. I'd like to not have to hard-code those variables.

explode won't be a good option, at least not by it self. also you have a closing quote missing in details — Ibu
– Ibu, Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 6:13
I would love to see this working :-). To understand this, are you trying to generate any PHP code? Or you want to have this as a part of a code which does something. — Rakesh Sankar
– Rakesh Sankar, Commented Jun 17, 2011 at 6:14

zerkms · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 06:14:27Z

5

$str = '|
details==Here are some details
|
facebook_url==therweerw
|
random_word==blah blah
|';

preg_match_all('~^(\w+)==(.*)$~m', $str, $matches);

foreach ($matches[1] as $i => $name) {
    $$name = $matches[2][$i];
}

var_dump($details, $facebook_url, $random_word);

And running sample: http://ideone.com/Vns7Y

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 6:14

zerkms

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4 Comments

Doug Owings Over a year ago

I mean, what more could you want?

zerkms Over a year ago

@Doug Owings: uhm, what? I want million dollars ;-)

Doug Owings Over a year ago

Just saying: it took you four minutes to post a working sample. Impressive.

zerkms Over a year ago

@Doug Owings: hehe, that wasn't so obvious for me from your first phrase ;-))

Amber · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 06:14:49Z

1

You can use a combination of explode() plus extract() to do this.

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 6:14

Amber

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4 Comments

binaryLV Over a year ago

How can extract() help with this?

Amber Over a year ago

extract() is another way of doing the equivalent of $$x = y; en masse when you have an associative array where the keys are x's and the values are y's.

binaryLV Over a year ago

I know what extract() does. I'm asking how can extract() be useful, when explode() creates an array with numeric indexes. Do you really suggest to use loop to create an array with variable names as keys and then use extract() instead of creating variables directly in the same loop?

Amber Over a year ago

No? I agree that using variable variables is probably the more straightforward way to do it, and would never argue differently; extract() was simply the first thing that came to mind, and there wasn't much of a point adding the other when someone had already added it as an answer.

binaryLV · Accepted Answer · 2011-06-17 06:17:37Z

1

I would probably use preg_match_all() for this, but here's example with explode():

$str = "|
details==Here are some details
|
facebook_url==therweerw
|
random_word==blah blah
|";
$str = str_replace("\r", '', $str);
$str = trim($str, "|\r\n");
foreach ( explode("\n|\n", $str) as $line ) {
    $line = trim($line);
    list($varName, $varValue) = explode('==', $line);
    ${$varName} = $varValue;
}
var_dump($details, $facebook_url, $random_word);

Output:

string 'Here are some details' (length=21)
string 'therweerw' (length=9)
string 'blah blah' (length=9)

answered Jun 17, 2011 at 6:17

binaryLV

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