PHP exploded didn't return array

Question

I have some strings which contain , character and I need to explode them into array. For example there are two cases

    $str = 'Jack, Rose, John';

Or

    $str = 'Jack';

When I used this code to each case

    $formatted = str_replace(' ', '', $str); // Remove spaces
    $names = explode(',',$formatted); // Split strings to array

In first case, everything goes fine. Three name (Jack, Rose, John) are splitted into array that I can use.

    $str = 'Jack, Rose, John';
    $formatted = str_replace(' ', '', $str);
    $names = explode(',',$formatted);
    foreach($names AS $name)
    {
            // Get user from database using $name.
            // Everything works just fine.
    }

But in the second case I didn't get an array. When I used foreach it just return empty string for each loop.

    $str = 'Jack';
    $formatted = str_replace(' ', '', $str);
    $names = explode(',',$formatted);
    foreach($names AS $name)
    {
            // Get user from database using $name.
            // Return error because $name empty ?!
    }

I appreciate your answers to tell me why this happened.

Note that by doing $formatted = str_replace(' ', '', $str); you also remove spaces in the names. So Van Gogh would become VanGogh. — Bram Verstraten
– Bram Verstraten, Commented Jul 30, 2019 at 9:07

Kawax · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-30 09:17:21Z

2

Test code :

$str1 = 'Jack, Rose, John';
$str2 = 'Jack';

$formatted1 = str_replace(' ', '', $str1);
$names1 = explode(',', $formatted1);

$formatted2 = str_replace(' ', '', $str2);
$names2 = explode(',', $formatted2);

foreach($names1 as $name){echo $name . "<br/>";}
foreach($names2 as $name){echo $name . "<br/>";}

Output :

Jack
Rose
John
Jack

This is how I've tested your code and it seems to work fine. If it still doesn't work fine for you, try adding a comma at the end of your string. Though it will add an empty array entry at the end of your array so I'd recommend using array_pop before your foreach.

Here's an example :

$str = 'Jack, Rose, John';
$str .= ','; //Adding a comma

$formatted = str_replace(' ', '', $str);
$names = explode(',', $formatted);
array_pop($names); //Popping the last empty entry

foreach($names as $name){
    //Do your thing here
}

answered Jul 30, 2019 at 9:17

Kawax

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1 Comment

MCN Over a year ago

thanks, add a comma to the last and work perfectly!

RISHIKESH PAL · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-30 10:34:03Z

0

There is no need to used str_replace method. explode(',', $str) will help to form array from giving string, because it store data in array form even for single value.
$str = 'Jack, Rose, John'; $names = explode(',', $str); var_dump($names);

answered Jul 30, 2019 at 10:34

RISHIKESH PAL

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