PHP explode() and If statement

Question

I literally spent 6 hours trying to find this out. I have the code below:

$pieces3 = explode(":", $value2);
$checkiftime = $pieces3[0];
if ($checkiftime == 'time')
{
echo "Yes!";
}
else
{
echo "Oh no!";
}

$value2 contains:

" 'time': 1376952971"

I'm pretty sure the statement should be true but for some reasons, I keep getting false (oh no!)

if ($checkiftime == 'time')

What could be wrong? I already tried using double quotes for $checkiftime=="time" but still no avail.

EDIT:

I tried doing Vardumps after the explode:

var_dump($pieces3);
echo "<br>";
var_dump($value2);
echo "<br>";
var_dump($pieces3[0]);
echo "<br>";

And resulted with:

array(2) { [0]=> string(13) " 'time'" [1]=> string(11) " 1376952971" } 
string(25) " 'time': 1376952971" 
string(13) " 'time'"

I'm not sure why 'time' shows as String(13), I see that blank space, could that be a special character containing more than 1 hidden string? I did a trim() but it doesn't seem to change anything.

EDIT2:

Thanks everyone, below is the part of the code that I modified and it worked great:

$checkiftime = trim($pieces3[0], " '\t\n\r\0\x0B");
if ($checkiftime == 'time')

var_dump($pieces3); - Can you post result formatted in question please? — kero
– kero, Commented May 7, 2014 at 22:47
Just ran your exact code, using $value2 = "time: 1376952971" and it works as expected. The result is Yes! — Mark Miller
– Mark Miller, Commented May 7, 2014 at 22:50
+1 @MarkM. It also works in many a PHP versions: 3v4l.org/sZo1U — Ayman Safadi
– Ayman Safadi, Commented May 8, 2014 at 0:48

Phil · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 03:10:59Z

2

I guess the main problem is that $value2 contained an unexpected value.

It simply looks like you need to sanitise the string, removing any characters that might get in the way of your check (such as space and apostrophe / single-quote). Try this...

$checkiftime = trim($pieces3[0], " '\t\n\r\0\x0B");

See trim(). Demo here - http://ideone.com/uVEDXM

Alternatively, you could simply use a regular expression match to check the entire string, eg

if (preg_match('/^\W*time\W*: (\d+)$/', $value2, $matches)) {
    echo 'Yes!', PHP_EOL;
    var_dump($matches); // $matches[1] contains the numeric value 1376952971
}

Demo - http://ideone.com/025vAV

edited May 8, 2014 at 3:10

answered May 8, 2014 at 2:56

Phil

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3 Comments

user3613603 Over a year ago

Thanks Phil. That would only remove the ' before the word time wouldn't it? How about the ' after the word time? Also is that a regular blank space before the word 'time'? I'm asking because it is showing as String(13) when it only contains 7 characters, so I'm thinking that blank space consist of 6 characters.

Phil Over a year ago

@user3613603 Read the manual for trim(), it removes leading and trailing characters. You are correct about the string length being longer than expected though the information you've pasted into your question only contains a normal space character. I've updated my answer to be more comprehensive

user3613603 Over a year ago

Hi Phil, the $checkiftime = trim($pieces3[0], " '\t\n\r\0\x0B"); did the trick. So Ibelieve that blank space is a special character? Probably counting as more than 1 character? It sounds weird but your code worked so that's the only explanation I can think of

ramseys1990 · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 03:29:36Z

0

I'm not sure why you have a space in the beginning of your 'time' or why you're keeping the single quotes around it, but here is the code that will produce a yes based on how it looks like you're setting it up: http://codepad.org/T8yw8Ou5

Consider using JSON for a situation like this!

answered May 8, 2014 at 3:29

ramseys1990

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1 Comment

user3613603 Over a year ago

Hi Ramsey, that is actually a piece of data from a JSON log file. I just used explode() to strip out the " 'time': 215416541654" and will be converting that unix timestamp to date format

Uours · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 03:58:19Z

0

$value2 = " 'time': 1376952971";

if( stristr( $value2 ,'time' ) === FALSE )
{
    echo "Oh no!";
}
else
{
    echo "Yes!";
}

The above checks if string time is present in the $value2 . But if you need the time you could :

echo ( stristr( $value2 ,"'time':" ) === FALSE
        ? ''
        : trim( str_replace( "'time':" ,'' ,$value2 ) )
     );

edited May 8, 2014 at 3:58

answered May 8, 2014 at 3:30

Uours

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3 Comments

user3613603 Over a year ago

This look's interesting, correct me if I'm wrong but this checks if the word "time" can be found in $value2 string?

Uours Over a year ago

Sure , it finds the first occurrence of the string time in $value2 . stristr .

Uours Over a year ago

You could try this : echo ( stristr( $value2 ,"'time':" ) === FALSE ? '' : trim( str_replace( "'time':" ,'' ,$value2 ) ) );

Boann · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-11 10:59:14Z

0

This appears to be part of some JSON data, except that it's malformed in that it uses single-quoted strings (which is valid in JavaScript but not valid in JSON). If we crudely replace single quotes with double quotes, and wrap it in {} to make it a complete object, it's easy to parse this string with json_decode(), which will handle variations in formatting and space characters that blunt splitting with explode() cannot:

$value = " 'time': 1376952971";
$value = json_decode('{' . strtr($value, "'", '"') . '}');
echo $value->time;
// Outputs: 1376952971

answered May 11, 2014 at 10:59

Boann

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6 Comments

user3613603 Over a year ago

Actually, it IS a JSON file. I just replaced the double quotes as it is part of my process

user3613603 Over a year ago

This is actually interesting, got a question though. What if you're given this JSON string:

user3613603 Over a year ago

This is actually interesting, got a question though. What if you're given this JSON string: "Team_Items":{ "Army":{ "Paladins":{ "325648":0, "546545":4 }, "Knights":{ "325648":-2, "546545":0 } } } Can you use json_decode and get these items and values and their sub items and values and print them?

user3613603 Over a year ago

can I do echo $value->325648; result is 0 or echo $value->Paladins; result is "325648":0, "546545":4

Boann Over a year ago

@user3613603 Yes, although that data must be wrapped in an outer {} to be a complete JSON string. If you have that string in $value then you can do: $value = json_decode('{' . $value . '}');. And then echo $value->Team_Items->Army->Paladins->{546545}; will display 4, and print_r($value); will echo the whole structure.

|

Cully · Accepted Answer · 2014-05-08 03:35:16Z

-1

Your time value has single quotes around it, within the string. So, you'd need to make your comparison:

$checkiftime = trim($checkiftime, " \t\n\r\0\x0B");
if ($checkiftime == "'time'") {
...
}

This is probably a good lesson in examining your values before asking a question about it :)

You can remove the single quotes if you want:

$checkiftime = str_replace("'", "", $checkiftime);

edited May 8, 2014 at 3:35

answered May 8, 2014 at 3:14

Cully

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7 Comments

Phil Over a year ago

There's also some whitespace characters though it seems they are more than simply ASCII space

Cully Over a year ago

@Phil That's what the trim() is for

user3613603 Over a year ago

This did not work for me. I should probably post the entire code but it contains sensitive information so I might need to modify it. I tried trim, the result is the same.

Cully Over a year ago

Did you copy the == "'time'" exactly (including the single quotes), and put the trim() function before it?

Cully Over a year ago

Also, if you put the str_replace function in there, before the comparison, you need to remove the single quotes from the == "'time'" portion

|

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