php or mysql remove duplicate entries array

Question

everywhere I found solutions for removing duplicate entries in php or mysql. But all those solutions removed the whole row, but I just want to remove the value of a column. for example I have this SELECT in mysql:

SELECT HE_FRUIT as fruit, CA_FRUIT as candy, CA_FRUIT_NAME as name, CA_FRUIT_color as color 
FROM fruits LEFT JOIN candy ON HE_FRUIT_ID = CA_FRUIT_ID 
WHERE CA_FRUIT_COUNTRY LIKE '%usa%' 
GROUP BY CA_FRUIT_TITLE 
ORDER BY CA_FRUIT_PRIO, CA_FRUIT_HE

I print the array and I get this:

array
  0 => 
      array
      fruit = "APPLE"
      candy = "lolly"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "green"
   1 => 
      array
      fruit = "APPLE"
      candy = "gum"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "blue"
  2 => 
      array
      fruit = "APPLE"
      candy = "candy"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "red"
  3 => 
      array
      fruit = "BANANA"
      candy = "lolly"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "yellow"

What I want to have is:

  0 => 
      array
      fruit = "APPLE"
      candy = "lolly"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "green"
   1 => 
      array
      fruit = ""
      candy = "gum"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "blue"
  2 => 
      array
      fruit = ""
      candy = "candy"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "red"
  3 => 
      array
      fruit = "BANANA"
      candy = "lolly"
      name = "xxx"
      color = "yellow"

So it's only the value of the column fruit that should be removed, but all the rest should stay.

Does someone has an idea how I could solve this problem, without to much extra code?

Thanks so much in advance?

It depends, now I don't have much entries, but in the future there is a possibility that more entries will added. (I just don't know how much) — user993177
– user993177, Commented Feb 9, 2012 at 9:08

berty · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-09 09:16:52Z

1

Try this :

<?php

    $data = array(
      0 => array(
          'fruit' => "APPLE",
          'candy' => "lolly",
          'name' => "xxx",
          'color' => "green"
      ),
      1 => array(
          'fruit' => "APPLE",
          'candy' => "gum",
          'name' => "xxx",
          'color' => "blue"
      ),
      2 => array(
          'fruit' => "APPLE",
          'candy' => "candy",
          'name' => "xxx",
          'color' => "red"
      ),
      3 => array(
          'fruit' => "BANANA",
          'candy' => "lolly",
          'name' => "xxx",
          'color' => "yellow"
      )
    );

    foreach($data as $i => $dataRow)
    {
        foreach($dataRow as $fieldName => $fieldValue)
        {
            for($j=0; $j<$i; $j++)
            {
                if($data[$j][$fieldName] == $fieldValue)
                {
                    $data[$i][$fieldName] = '';
                }
            }
        }
    }

    print_r($data);

?>

answered Feb 9, 2012 at 9:16

berty

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1 Comment

liquorvicar Over a year ago

Note this is quite a fragile solution. It relies on the 'fruit' being ordered. If not, then it doesn't produce correct output (test by inserting a 'BANANA' sub-array amongst the 'APPLE's). Might work for now but the dependency on the query ordering isn't obvious and might easily break/change in the future.

liquorvicar · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-09 09:10:08Z

Do you need the result array to be only single-dimensional? If not, I would suggest you could process the array into a multi-dimensional array, like this:

$array=array(
  0 => 
      array(
      'fruit' => "APPLE",
      'candy' => "lolly",
      'name' => "xxx",
      'color' => "green"),
  1 => 
      array(
      'fruit' => "APPLE",
      'candy' => "gum",
      'name' => "xxx",
      'color' => "blue"),
  2 => 
      array(
      'fruit' => "APPLE",
      'candy' => "candy",
      'name' => "xxx",
      'color' => "red"),
  3 => 
      array(
      'fruit' => "BANANA",
      'candy' => "lolly",
      'name' => "xxx",
      'color' => "yellow")
);

$output = array();
foreach( $array as $arrayItem ) {
    if( !isset( $output[$arrayItem['fruit']]) ) {
        $output[$arrayItem['fruit']] = array();
    }
    $outputItem = $arrayItem;
    unset( $outputItem['fruit'] );
    $output[$arrayItem['fruit']][] = $outputItem;
}

You could achieve the same effect by looping through the original data set, you don't need to create a one-dimensional PHP array and then process it again. This is just to make the example clearer.

Eugen Rieck · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-09 09:10:41Z

0

SELECT DISTINCT or array_unique() and friends won't help you here: You do not want to suppress duplicate rows, you want to manipulate them to have a different fruit: the empty string.

So you will end up needing a loop:

//Assumes your resultset is in $myarray
$fruits=array();

for ($i=0;$i<sizeof($myarray);$i++)
  if (in_array($myarray[$i]['fruit'],$fruits)) $myarray[$i]['fruit']='';
  else $fruits[]=$myarray[$i]['fruit'];

answered Feb 9, 2012 at 9:10

Eugen Rieck

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