PHP search text file line by line for two strings then output line

Question

I am trying to search a text file for two values on a line. If both values are present I need to output the entire line. The values I am searching for may not be next to each other which is where I am getting stuck. I have the following code which works well but only for one search value:

<?php 
$search = $_REQUEST["search"]; 
// Read from file 
$lines = file('archive.txt'); 
foreach($lines as $line) 
{ 
// Check if the line contains the string we're looking for, and print if it does 
if(strpos($line, $search) !== false) 
echo"<html><title>SEARCH RESULTS FOR: $search</title><font face='Arial'> $line <hr>"; 
} 

?>

Any assistance much appreciated. Many thanks in advance.

Kelvin · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-09 01:22:41Z

4

Assuming the values you're searching for are separated by a space, and they will both always be present, explode should do the trick:

$search = explode(' ', $_REQUEST["search"]);  // change ' ' to ',' if you separate the search terms with a comma, etc.
// Read from file 
$lines = file('archive.txt'); 
foreach($lines as $line) 
{ 
    // Check if the line contains the string we're looking for, and print if it does 
    if(strpos($line, $search[0]) !== false && strpos($line, $search[1] !== false)) { 
        echo"<html><title>SEARCH RESULTS FOR: $search</title><font face='Arial'> $line <hr>";
    }
}

I'll leave it up to you to add some validation to make sure there are always two elements in the $search array, etc.

edited Nov 9, 2012 at 1:22

answered Nov 9, 2012 at 1:16

Kelvin

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1 Comment

Dave Over a year ago

I was going to mention explode() in my answer until I saw this post (then I just discarded my answer as this one is spot on). I highly recommend using explode rather than having another request.

rationalboss · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-09 09:22:18Z

3

I also corrected the HTML code. The script looks for two values, $search and $search2. It is using stristr(). For the case-sensitive version of stristr, refer to strstr(). The script will return all lines containing both $search and $search2.

<?php 
$search = $_REQUEST["search"]; 
$search2 = $_REQUEST['search2'];
// Read from file 
$lines = file('archive.txt'); 
echo"<html><head><title>SEARCH RESULTS FOR: $search</title></head><body>";
foreach($lines as $line) 
{ 
// Check if the line contains the string we're looking for, and print if it does 
if(stristr($line,$search) && stristr($line,$search2))  // case insensitive
    echo "<font face='Arial'> $line </font><hr>"; 
} 
?>
</body></html>

edited Nov 9, 2012 at 9:22

answered Nov 9, 2012 at 1:15

rationalboss

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2 Comments

Martyn Over a year ago

That is really great thanks! I had to modify the following line: code <font face='Arial'> $line </font><hr>"; code to code echo "<font face='Arial'> $line </font><hr>"; code but it works a treat! Thanks again.

mickmackusa Over a year ago

The php manual has a specific note stating that strstr() and stristr() should not be used to search for checking the existence of a substring. php.net/manual/en/function.strstr.php

janenz00 · Accepted Answer · 2012-11-09 01:17:27Z

1

Just search for your other value also and use && to check for both.

      <?php 
        $search1 = $_REQUEST["search1"];
         $search2 = $_REQUEST["search2"];
        // Read from file 
         $lines = file('archive.txt'); 
        foreach($lines as $line) 
        { 
           // Check if the line contains the string we're looking for, and print if it does 
          if(strpos($line, $search1) !== false && strpos($line, $search2) !== false) 
             echo"<html><title>SEARCH RESULTS FOR: $search1 and $search2</title><font face='Arial'> $line <hr>"; 
        } 

       ?>

answered Nov 9, 2012 at 1:17

janenz00

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Comments

ccociug · Accepted Answer · 2017-12-08 15:18:47Z

0

This worked for me. You may define what you like in searchthis aray and it will be displayed with whole line.

<?php
$searchthis = array('1','2','3');
$matches = array();

$handle = fopen("file_path", "r");
if ($handle)
{
while (!feof($handle))
{
    $buffer = fgets($handle);

    foreach ($searchthis as $param) {
    if(strpos($buffer, $param) !== FALSE)
        $matches[] = $buffer;
 }}
 fclose($handle);
 }

 foreach ($matches as $parts) {
echo $parts;
}
?>

answered Dec 8, 2017 at 15:18

ccociug

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