Remove duplicate values from Array

Question

I can not "remove" the double values from an array even if I use the function array_unique!

<?php
    $tags_array = array() ; 
    $query_tags = $mysql->Query("SELECT words AS kw FROM users ") ;
    /****
    *
    * This query return something like Array([1] => PHP,ASP,NET [2] => Ruby,Jquery,php,asp_net [3] => Php,asp,visualbasic,c# [4] => [5] =>)
    *
    *****/
    while($fetch_tags = $mysql->Fetch($query_tags)) 
    {
        foreach(explode(',',$fetch_tags['kw']) as $kw => $value) 
        {
            if(empty($value)) ;
            else 
            {
                $value = ucwords(strtolower($value)) ;
                $tags_array[] = $value ;
            } 
        }
    }
$tags_array = array_values(array_unique($tags_array, SORT_STRING)) ; 
print_r($tags_array) ;
/******
*
* print_r show somethings like this Array([1] => Asp [2] => Php [3] => Php [4] => Ruby [5] => Jquery [6] => Php [7] => Asp_net [8] = >C# [9] => Asp) 
*
* IT'S ONLY AN EXAMPLE TO SHOW YOU THE SITUATION 
*****/
?>

Sorry i'm little noob tell me who i can do it :( apologize me — Claudio
– Claudio, Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 16:07
Maybe there is some whitespace involved? E.g., "PHP, Ruby", "Asp, PHP" -> array("PHP", " Ruby", "Asp", " PHP"). — Ferdinand Beyer
– Ferdinand Beyer, Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 16:07
I mean $value = ucwords(strtolower(trim($value)));. If the values have white spaces at the beginning or at the end, they won't be equal... — Felix Kling
– Felix Kling, Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 16:16
yes there is some whitespace ! damn i'm very stupid TNX Felix AND Ferdinand !!!!!!!!!!!!!! — Claudio
– Claudio, Commented Jul 21, 2011 at 16:17

Jim · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-21 16:09:37Z

1

Make sure that the returned values are in fact not unique. For example

$foo = array("PHP","php","pHP","PHP ");
$foo = array_unique($foo);

Will still contain 4 entries.

If any entries contain spaces you should trim these.

answered Jul 21, 2011 at 16:09

Jim

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2 Comments

Ferdinand Beyer Over a year ago

This is why he normalizes those with ucwords(strtolower($value))?

Jim Over a year ago

@Ferdinand. The 4th entry has a space which will be missed by that.

hakre · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-21 16:03:52Z

0

Just use values as keys, they can only exist once and you don't have any numbers as your keywords (hopefully):

$tags_array = array_keys(array_flip(($tags_array));

array_flip will use values as keys (and drop duplicate values) and array_keys will then return all keys as values again.

answered Jul 21, 2011 at 16:03

hakre

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5 Comments

Ferdinand Beyer Over a year ago

Why should he use array_keys(array_flip(...)) instead of just using array_unique()?

Wrikken Over a year ago

I agree with Ferdinand, seems convoluted at best, and breaks when the values aren't scalars.

hakre Over a year ago

@Wrikken: In the question the values all are strings, no numeric parts given.

hakre Over a year ago

@Ferdinand Beyer: As an example to show that array_unique does work.

Wrikken Over a year ago

@hakre: yes, in this question they are. However, people look at the answers here online more then they ask, and others may have non-scalars in their arrays. Suggesting a possibly broken solution for them (granted, in this scenario it will work although it didn't solve the real problem) while there is a proper tool in the question (namely array_unique) will not serve them well. I mainly commented for their sake, outlining when and where this solution is not valid. Your solution isn't wrong, or I would've downvoted, it's just not the proper tool.

symcbean · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-21 16:09:16Z

0

Given that is the only thing that aray_unique is supposed to do, I find it very surprising it's not doing it. What is apparent from your post, is that maybe you think 'php' is the same thing as 'PHP'?

When I try the following I get unique results:

$d=Array('PHP,ASP,NET','Ruby,Jquery,php,asp_net','Php,asp,visualbasic,c#');

$o=array();

foreach ($d as $i) {
    $p=explode(',',$i);
    foreach ($p as $q) {
      $o[]=strtoupper($q);
    }
}
print_r(array_unique($o));

However the issue only arises because your database schema is not normalised.

answered Jul 21, 2011 at 16:09

symcbean

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Comments

Felix Kling · Accepted Answer · 2011-07-21 21:45:32Z

0

As no one seemed to have provided the right answer, I'll repeat my comment here:

It might be that the words have preceding or trailing white spaces. Then they will never be equal to each other. You can remove these white spaces with trim ^[docs]

$value = ucwords(strtolower(trim($value)));

answered Jul 21, 2011 at 21:45

Felix Kling

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