PHP Explode between an integer and letter

Question

array (    
    [0] => 3 / 4 Bananas
    [1] => 1 / 7 Apples
    [2] => 3 / 3 Kiwis
    )

Is it possible, to say, iterate through this list, and explode between the first letter and first integer found, so I could seperate the text from the set of numbers and end up with something like:

array (
   [0] => Bananas
   [1] => Apples
   [2] => Kiwis
   )

I have no idea how you would specify this as the delimiter. Is it even possible?

foreach ($fruit_array as $line) {
   $var = explode("??", $line);
}

Edit: updated example. exploding by a space wouldn't work. see above example.

what is the format of the list, is it a string or array?

Hawili
– Hawili

2012-09-14 23:21:53 +00:00
Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 23:21 — Hawili
– Hawili, Commented Sep 14, 2012 at 23:21

João Silva · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 23:51:31Z

6

You could use preg_match instead of explode:

$fruit_array = array("3 / 4 Bananas", "1 / 7 Apples", "3 / 3 Kiwis");
$result = array();
foreach ($fruit_array as $line) {
   preg_match("/\d[^A-Za-z]+([A-Za-z\s]+)/", $line, $match);
   array_push($result, $match[1]);
}

It will almost literally match your expression, that is, a digit \d, followed by one or more non-letters [^A-Za-z], followed by one or more letters or whitespace (to account for multiple words) [A-Za-z\s]+. This final matched string, between parentheses, will be captured in the first match, i.e., $match[1].

Here's a DEMO.

edited Sep 14, 2012 at 23:51

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 23:24

João Silva

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2 Comments

Norse Over a year ago

What if the fruit name had two words, like Green Apples? Your example would match just Green

João Silva Over a year ago

@Norse: Just add an extra \s to [A-Za-z] to match whitespaces. This way, it also matches multiple words. I've edited my answer and my demo.

petesiss · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 23:36:21Z

3

You could also use the PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE flag in preg_match:

$a = array('1/4 banana', '3/5 apple', '3/2 peach');

foreach ($a as $b) {
    preg_match('/[a-z]/', $b, $matches, PREG_OFFSET_CAPTURE);
    $pos = $matches[0][1]; // position of first match of [a-z] in each case
    $c[] = substr($b, $pos);  
}

print_r($c);


Array ( [0] => banana [1] => apple [2] => peach )

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 23:36

petesiss

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Comments

DaveRandom · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 23:43:15Z

3

// An array to hold the result
$result = array();

// Loop the input array
foreach ($array as $str) {

  // Split the string to a maximum of 2 parts
  // See below for regex description
  $parts = preg_split('/\d\s*(?=[a-z])/i', $str, 2);

  // Push the last part of the split string onto the result array
  $result[] = array_pop($parts);

}

// Display the result
print_r($result);

The regex works like this:

/
  # Match any digit
  \d
  # Match 0 or more whitespace characters
  \s*
  # Assert that the next character is a letter without including it in the delimiter
  (?=[a-z])
/i

See it working

edited Sep 14, 2012 at 23:43

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 23:27

DaveRandom

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Comments

Richard JP Le Guen · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-15 05:01:40Z

If you want to explode "between the first letter and the first integer found" you shouldn't use explode.

The PHP explode function accepts a delimiter as its first argument:

array explode ( string $delimiter , string $string [, int $limit ] )

That means it's not "smart" enough to understand a complicated rule like "between the first letter and the first integer found" - it only understands things like "split on '1'" or "split on 'A'". The delimiter has to be something concrete: a specific letter and a specific integer, for example. (ie "between the letter 'B' and the integer '4'")

For something more abstract/general, like what you described ("between the first letter and the first integer found") you will need a pattern. So the best bet is to use preg_replace or preg_split instead, like so:

<?php

$myArr = [    
    "3 / 4 Bananas",
    "1 / 7 Apples",
    "3 / 3 Kiwis",
    "1 / 7 Green Apples",
];

for($i=0; $i<count($myArr); $i++) {
    echo "<pre>";
    echo preg_replace("/^.*?\d[^\d[a-z]]*([a-z])/i", "$1", $myArr[$i]);
    echo "</pre>";
}

?>

Nelson Benítez León · Accepted Answer · 2012-09-14 23:24:10Z

0

Something like this:

foreach ($fruit_array as $line) {
   $var = explode(" ", $line);
   $arr[$var[2]] = $var[3];
}

var_dump( $arr ) should output:

array (
   [0] => Bananas
   [1] => Apples
   [2] => Kiwis
   )

answered Sep 14, 2012 at 23:24

Nelson Benítez León

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