Array explode with condition

Question

I'm facing a problem that I can't solve on my own, I can't find a way to do it.

I have those two strings:

'Germany, "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"'

and

'Health, Medicin, Healthcare'

I need to explode() this strings on the , char, but only if the text, where this , lays in isn't surrounded by ".

So, as example this would be the desired results:

array(0 => 'Germany', 1 => '"Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"');
array(0 => 'Health', 1 => 'Medicin', 2 => 'Healthcare');

By now this is what I have:

explode(",", 'Germany, "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"');

Which will give out

array(0 => 'Germany', 1 => '"Sightseeing', 2 => 'Travelling', 3 => 'Hotels"');

How can I get to this result?

@deceze I'm going through a CSV line by line, I need to generate categories based on those example string I provided. Now "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels" is a single category, not 3 seperated ones. — KhorneHoly
– KhorneHoly, Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 8:01
@deceze I didn't know that there are functions for that in PHP and my I couldn't find something in my research. But I never searched for CSV parsing, thanks for pointing it out to me, I'll have a look at it. — KhorneHoly
– KhorneHoly, Commented Sep 1, 2015 at 8:07

Stephan B · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-01 09:10:11Z

4

See str_getcsv() how to parse csv (even if you are not reading a csv file, this is exactly what this string looks like):

<?php
print_r(str_getcsv('Germany, "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"', ','));
print_r(str_getcsv('Health, Medicin, Healthcare'));
print_r(str_getcsv('D"uh!, \"Test\"', ','));
?>

results in:

Array ( [0] => Germany [1] => Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels )
Array ( [0] => Health [1] => Medicin [2] => Healthcare )
Array ( [0] => D"uh! [1] => "Test" )

Remarks: This Function is available beginning with php version 5.3.0 and can also be configured as to what your input looks like. I added some special cases, this is a classic problem that looks far simpler than it is.

edited Sep 1, 2015 at 9:10

answered Sep 1, 2015 at 8:02

Stephan B

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1 Comment

KhorneHoly Over a year ago

Great, this is excactly what I needed, didn't know there's an function for that in PHP.

Arsenio Siani · Accepted Answer · 2015-09-01 08:12:28Z

You can use php function str_getcsv.

Here an example:

$string_1 = 'Germany, "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"';
$string_2 = 'Health, Medicin, Healthcare';

$result_1 = str_getcsv($string_1,',','"');
$result_2 = str_getcsv($string_2,',','"');

print_R($result_1);
print_R($result_2);

that outputs:

Array
(
    [0] => Germany
    [1] => Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels
)
Array
(
    [0] => Health
    [1] =>  Medicin
    [2] =>  Healthcare
)

You can after map each element of the resultant array, and if there is a comma you can surround it with "

foreach($result_1 as $i => $item) {
    if(substr_count($item,',') > 0) {
        $result_1[$i] = '"'.$item.'"';
    }
}

Wich produce:

Array
(
    [0] => Germany
    [1] => "Sightseeing, Travelling, Hotels"
)

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