PHP List Explode Variable

Question

Using PHP, I'm trying to give each specific text its own variable. I believe this can be achieved by using the explode list function in php. Something similar to the code below:

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = explode(":", $data);

However, the above code separates the text by using a colon (:). The text I'd like to separate are within quotes, for example "WORD". The example text I'd like to separate is as below:

"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"

I'd like the text/numbers AULLAH1, 01/07/2010 15:28, 55621454, 123456, 123456.00 to all have a specific PHP variable. If possible, I'd like the PHP explode feature to separate the content by a beginning quote (") and an ending quote (").

(1) Do you have any control over how these files are created? (2) Have you considered using an actual database? — quantumSoup
– quantumSoup, Commented Aug 21, 2010 at 23:34
Pekka: Thank you for your response, I extremely appreciate it. I'd like it as an incoming data. Again, thank you for your response. :) quantumSoup: Firstly, thank you for your response, I extremely appreciate them. ;) (1) It's only the one file, there are a lot of steps besides this. Finding away to give the following a variable is all I need at the moment. (2) I've been told that before, but unfortunately, I don't have the ability to do so. Thank you for your response. ;) — aullah
– aullah, Commented Aug 21, 2010 at 23:40

Artefacto · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-21 23:32:55Z

3

A better way is to use preg_match_all:

$s = '"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"';
preg_match_all('/"([^"]*)"/', $s, $matches);
list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = $matches[1];

The most simliar way would be to use preg_split:

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) =
    preg_split('/"(?: ")?/', $s, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

answered Aug 21, 2010 at 23:32

Artefacto

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4 Comments

strager Over a year ago

@Timwi, It doesn't fail; assigning to list gives NULL to $home and $shell in this case.

Artefacto Over a year ago

@strager Was it supposed to fail? The OP doesn't mention that and it's consistent with his current solution.

Artefacto Over a year ago

Ah OK, you were responding to a now deleted comment.

aullah Over a year ago

Hi Artefacto, I extremely appreciate your response and I'm grateful for all the effort you've put into your reply. I've used the preg_match_all method and it seems to work more than perfectly. Also, I liked the idea of using preg_split too, as for now I'll stick to the first method. Again, I appreciate your response. Thank you for your help. ;)

strager · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-21 23:33:25Z

1

This is the simplest solution, but certainly not the most robust:

$data = '"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"';

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell)
    = explode('" "', trim($data, '"'));

var_dump(array($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell));

// gives:
array(7) {
  [0]=>
  string(7) "AULLAH1"
  [1]=>
  string(17) "01/07/2010 15:28 "
  [2]=>
  string(8) "55621454"
  [3]=>
  string(6) "123456"
  [4]=>
  string(9) "123456.00"
  [5]=>
  NULL
  [6]=>
  NULL
}

answered Aug 21, 2010 at 23:33

strager

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4 Comments

aullah Over a year ago

Hi Strager, I extremely appreciate your response as well as your efforts. In all honesty, I don't like the idea of going into arraying the data, although I do understand that it can be extremely useful at times. Sorry if I seem to be giving you a negative vibe, as stated before, I am grateful that you responded. ;) Thank you.

Artefacto Over a year ago

@AUl The arraying was just for displaying purposes.

strager Over a year ago

@AUllah1, @Artefacto is correct; I just put the elements into an array to easily view the var_dump to show that it works as expected.

aullah Over a year ago

Ahh, that's great. Apologies for the assumption strager. That seems like some amazing coding. I appreciate your response. ;) Thank you.

eKek0 · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-21 23:34:58Z

1

This should be done with a regular expression. See the preg_match function for this.

answered Aug 21, 2010 at 23:34

eKek0

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1 Comment

mickmackusa Over a year ago

This is low-quality and is better positioned as a comment.

Omar Ali · Accepted Answer · 2010-08-21 23:50:15Z

0

explode('-', str_replace('"', '', str_replace('" "', '"-"', $data)));

edited Aug 21, 2010 at 23:50

answered Aug 21, 2010 at 23:35

Omar Ali

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2 Comments

strager Over a year ago

This will fail on "01/07/2010 15:28 ".

aullah Over a year ago

Hi Omar, thank you for your response. I extremely appreciate it. As mentioned by strager, it did fail at that specific location. :( Again, I really do appreciate your response as well as your effort. ;)

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