End php if statement

Question

I compare a string from a feed with another variable and echo a corresponding string.

$xml = @simplexml_load_file($feed);

foreach ($xml->entry as $entry) {      
    $caller = $entry->caller[0];
    $message = $entry->message[0];
} 


if (($caller == $id) {
  echo '$message';
}

I want to echo no more than 5 messages, regardless of the number of ($caller == $id) matches.

 $x=1; 

 while (($caller == $id) && ($x<=5)) {
         echo '$x $message';
         $x++;
 }

That general approach has failed.

I thought maybe I could put the condition in a function and call it a certain number of times but no luck.

function myFunction(){
    echo '$message';
}

$x=1; 

while($x<=5) {
    echo '$x';
    myFunction();
    $x++;   
}

You want to display 5 times the same message ? By message I mean an XMl entry. Or you want to only display 5 first XML entries ? — OlivierH
– OlivierH, Commented Nov 23, 2013 at 3:00
Lets see your complete original code including the loop. Your approach should work, other than the facts that variable scoping and string interpolation are wrong — Hanky Panky
– Hanky Panky, Commented Nov 23, 2013 at 3:00
While $caller == $id will always return true.. mot understanding what you arr tryin to achieve here. — Mr. Alien
– Mr. Alien, Commented Nov 23, 2013 at 3:01

Alex K · Accepted Answer · 2015-07-31 15:16:24Z

2

For one, your while loop would actually only output 4 results because you are saying while x is LESS than 5, not <= 5. You can leave it < 5, but change x to equal 0 instead of 1;

The second problem is that as soon as $caller does not == $id, your while loop will stop. You should only need to use a foreach loop for this, not both a foreach to extract the data and a while to loop over it again.

The third problem with your code is that you are writing your caller and message values to the same variable over and over in your foreach. Then, in your while loop, your $caller and $message variables will always be equal to the last items in the $xml->entry array.

$xml = @simplexml_load_file($feed);
$number_of_results_to_show = 5;
$x = 0; // counter

foreach ($xml->entry as $entry) {      
    $caller = $entry->caller[0];
    $message = $entry->message[0];

    if ($caller == $id && $x < $number_of_results_to_show) {
        $x++;
        echo $message;
    }

    // also, you can use a break to prevent your loop from continuing
    // even though you've already output 5 results
    if ($x == $number_of_results_to_show) {
        break;
    }
}

edited Jul 31, 2015 at 15:16

answered Nov 23, 2013 at 3:06

Alex K

16k4 gold badges34 silver badges33 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

3 Comments

Nikolai Samteladze Over a year ago

Which loop are you referring to?

Nikolai Samteladze Over a year ago

$x will be always 0 because it is assigned inside foreach loop. Probably should move $x = 0; outside foreach.

Alex K Over a year ago

@NikolaiSamteladze Oops! Thanks for catching that, editing. It's getting late, lol.

Nikolai Samteladze · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-23 04:52:20Z

2

I assume that you have an array $xml->entry and you want to print message[0] of up to 5 array elements. Message is printed if $caller matches $id.

$xml = @simplexml_load_file($feed); 

// Iterate through $xml->entry until the end or until 5 printed messages 
for($i = 0, $j = 0; ($i < count($xml->entry)) && ($j < 5); ++$i) {      
    $caller = $xml->entry[$i]->caller[0];
    $message = $xml->entry[$i]->message[0];

    if ($caller == $id) {
        echo "$message";
        ++$j;
    }
}

If you want to store results from $xml->entry then:

$xml = @simplexml_load_file($feed); 
$storedResults = new array();
foreach($xml->entry as $entry) {      
    $caller = entry->caller[0];
    $message = entry->message[0];

    // Store data in array. $storedResults will be an array of arrays
    array_push(storedResults, array( 'caller' => $caller, 'message' => $message ));   
} 

// Print up to 5 messages from the stored results
$i = 0, $j = 0;
while (($i < count($storedResults)) && ($j < 5)) {
    if ($storedResults[$i]['caller'] == $id) {
        echo $storedResults[$i]['message'];
        ++$j;
    }
    ++$i;
}

edited Nov 23, 2013 at 4:52

answered Nov 23, 2013 at 3:04

Nikolai Samteladze

7,8076 gold badges46 silver badges71 bronze badges

11 Comments

user1877124 Over a year ago

But I can't limit the xml, I need all the results of the feed, and then only echo the ones that match $id (a url param), and then only five of those.

Nikolai Samteladze Over a year ago

I have not seen that you store results from $xml->entry. How do you want to store them in an array?

Nikolai Samteladze Over a year ago

@user1877124 Updated my answer. Now covers the case when you store all entries from $xml->entry and then output up to 5 of them.

Alex K Over a year ago

Your $storedResults variable should really be called $formattedResults, as that's all you're doing here. The only different between $xml->entry and $storedResults is that you've formatted your array slightly differently. @user1877124 You are NOT limiting the xml, it's ALL still in $xml->entry, looping and reading from it do not modify it.

Nikolai Samteladze Over a year ago

@AlexKinnee Yeah, $storedResults just represents some kind of storage. In this particular case it is not very useful as the same data can be obtained from $xml->entry.

|

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

End php if statement

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

11 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

2 Answers 2

3 Comments

11 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related