PHP compare duplicates from array with multiple string data

Question

I have an array with four columns (divided by ";") per index number. The data is coming from a csv file.

Example Data:

John = Firstname
Doe = Lastname
Playground = Description 
[email protected] = Email

print_r($dataArray);

Array
(
 [0] => John;Doe;Playground;[email protected]
 [1] => John;Doe;Playground test;[email protected]
 [2] => John;Doe;test Playground;[email protected]
 [3] => Johnny;Dawson;Test Area;[email protected]
)

Now I want to remove the duplicates with array_unique.

But I only want to compare the "firstname" and the "lastname".

If the firstname and the lastname has multiple results then remove the duplicate entry.

In this case [1] and [2]

$finalArray = array_unique($dataArray);

array unique will only work if all rows have the same data e.g.

 [0] => John;Doe;Playground;[email protected]
 [1] => John;Doe;Playground;[email protected]

Goal: Final result

Array
(
 [0] => John;Doe;Playground;[email protected]
 [1] => Johnny;Dawson;Test Area;[email protected]
)

What is a good way to handle this case?

If you have two rows with different data but the same first name, which row do you want to keep? The first or second? — Matt
– Matt, Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 17:55
this is not important. the first would be okay because the description may vary (which is okay). — Jim
– Jim, Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 18:11
If it's truly not important, would it be acceptable to filter out only the first and last names and use array_unique on them? — Matt
– Matt, Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 18:12
if i do that how can i get the rest of the data? description and email? — Jim
– Jim, Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 18:13
I guess that's what I'm confused about. If description and email are important, how does it not matter which of the duplicate records you keep? — Matt
– Matt, Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 18:15

primee · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-28 18:50:40Z

2

$a will be unique. notice the array keys that remained the same.

foreach($a as $k=>$v)
{
   list($name,$family) = explode(';', $v);
   if( isset($temp[$name.$family]) )
        unset($a[$k]);
   else
        $temp[$name.$fam] = true;
}

edited Mar 28, 2017 at 18:50

answered Mar 28, 2017 at 18:45

primee

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