Explode string by multiple delimiters into multi-dimensional array php

Question

Can someone please give me a hand making this explode function recursive? My head is not working today.

function expl($str,$charlist='|'){
    $charlist = str_split($charlist);
    foreach($charlist as $char){
        if(is_array($str)){
            for($i=0; $i<sizeof($str); $i++){
                $str[$i] = expl($str[$i],$char);
            }
        }else{
            return (explode($char,trim($str,$char)));
        }
    }
    return($str);
}
echo "<pre>";
print_r(expl("A~a1~a2|B~b1~b2",'|~'));
echo "</pre>";

Should output:

Array
(
[0] => Array
    (
        [0] => A
        [1] => a1
        [2] => a2
    )
[0] => Array
    (
        [0] => B
        [1] => b1
        [2] => b2
    )
)

Dharman · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-25 09:39:50Z

2

<?php

function expl($str, $charlist = '|')
{
    if (!$charlist) {
        return $str;
    }
    $char = $charlist[0];
    $matrix = explode($char, $str);
    for ($i = 0; $i < sizeof($matrix); $i++) {
        $matrix[$i] = expl($matrix[$i], substr($charlist, 1));
    }
    return $matrix;
}
echo "<pre>";
print_r(expl("A~a1~a2|B~b1~b2", '|~'));
echo "</pre>";

that would be something like this... use recursion! the first level will get the first matrix, doing something like this

$matrix[0] = "A~a1~a2";
$matrix[1] = "B~b1~b2";

and then, the recursion will do the second part, which will make each string become the array of strings, that will become the array of strings until there's no more separators.

edited Apr 25, 2021 at 9:39

Dharman♦

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answered Apr 16, 2013 at 12:13

Magus

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3 Comments

Magus Over a year ago

by the way... i havent tested it! it's just an idea of an algorithm!

cronoklee Over a year ago

Thanks Magnus - this is exactly what I was trying to do with my function. I've edited your answer to clean up the syntax in your example but I still dont think it's correct. Have I made a mistake somewhere? It's outputting something like Array(0=>Array(0=>'~'))

cronoklee Over a year ago

Great - I found the problem and updated your answer. Hopefully my edit will be peer-accepted

What have you tried · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-16 13:09:46Z

1

The below is a working example, and I've provided a link to show you the output when the function is run:

Example return:

http://phpfiddle.org/api/run/4iz-i2x

Usage:

echo '<pre>';
print_r( expl("A~a1~a2|B~b1~b2",'|~'));
echo '</pre>';

Function:

<?php

function expl($str,$charlist='|', $currentChar = 0, $continue = true){

    if(!$continue)
    {
        return $str;
    }

    $endArray = array();

    if($currentChar == 0){
        $charlist = str_split($charlist);
    }
    else
    {
        if($currentChar > count($charlist))
        {
            return expl($str, $charlist, $currentChar, false);
        }
    }

    if(!is_array($str))
    {   
        $pieces = explode($charlist[$currentChar], $str);
        $currentChar++;
        return expl($pieces, $charlist, $currentChar);
    }
    else{
        foreach($str as $arrayItem){
        if(is_array($arrayItem))
        {
                return expl($str, $charlist, $currentChar, false);
        }

        $endArray[] = explode($charlist[$currentChar], $arrayItem);

        }


        $currentChar++;
        return expl($endArray, $charlist, $currentChar);                
    }               
}    

?>

edited Apr 16, 2013 at 13:09

answered Apr 16, 2013 at 13:01

What have you tried

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2 Comments

cronoklee Over a year ago

Thanks Evan - It definitely works. It feels a little convoluted but since I dont have any ideas on how to simplify it, I suppose it will do nicely for now.

What have you tried Over a year ago

@cronoklee Alright, and yes I agree with you but I was rushing to build this. Perhaps you can improve on it :)

Gurmeet · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-16 12:16:16Z

0

Simply do like this.First explode by '|' then by '~'. it should be something like this:

$str="A~a1~a2|B~b1~b2";
$arr=explode("|",$str);
$result=array();
foreach($arr as $k=>$v)
{
  $arr1=explode("~",$v);
  $result[]=$arr1;
}

answered Apr 16, 2013 at 12:16

Gurmeet

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1 Comment

cronoklee Over a year ago

Thanks Gerry but the idea is to automate it so you can have dynamic delimiters

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