Efficient way to parse this string into array in PHP?

Question

Background

I have an array which I create by splitting a string based on every occurrence of 0d0a using preg_split('/(?<=0d0a)(?!$)/').

For example:

$string = "78781110d0a78782220d0a";

will be split into:

Array ( [0] => 78781110d0a [1] => 78782220d0a )  

A valid array element has to start with 7878 and end with 0d0a.

The Problem

But sometimes, there's an additional 0d0a in the string which splits into an extra and invalid array element, i.e., that doesn't begin with 7878.

Take this string for example:

$string = "78781110d0a2220d0a78783330d0a";

This is split into:

Array ( [0] => 78781110d0a [1] => 2220d0a [2] => 78783330d0a )

But it should actually be:

Array ( [0] => 78781110d0a2220d0a [1] => 78783330d0a)

My Solution

I've written the following (messy) code to get around this:

    $data = Array('78781110d0a','2220d0a','78783330d0a');
    $i = 0; //count for $data array;
    $j = 0; //count for $dataFixed array;
    $dataFixed = $data;

    foreach($data as $packet) {
        if (substr($packet,0,4) != "7878") { //if packet doesn't start with 7878, do some fixing
            if ($i != 0) { //its the first packet, can't help it!
                $j++;                    

                if ((substr(strtolower($packet), -4, 4) == "0d0a")) { //if the packet doesn't end with 0d0a, its 'mostly' not valid, so discard it
                    $dataFixed[$i-$j] = $dataFixed[$i-$j] . $packet;
                }
                    unset($dataFixed[$i-$j+1]);                        
                    $dataFixed = array_values($dataFixed);
            }
        }
        $i++;
    }

Description

I first copy the array to another array $dataFixed. In a foreach loop of the $data array, I check whether it starts with 7878. If it doesn't, I join it with the previous array in $data. I then unset the current array in $dataFixed and reset the array elements with array_values.

But I'm not very confident about this solution.. Is there a better, more efficient way?

UPDATE

What if the input string doesn't end in 0d0a like its supposed to? It will stick to the previous array element..

For e.g.: in the string 78781110d0a2220d0a78783330d0a0000, 0000 should be separated as another array element.

Answer 1

Why don't you use preg_match_all instead? You can avoid all of the non-capturing groups (the look aheads, look behinds) in order to split the string (which without the non-capturing groups removes the matches), and just find the matches you're looking for:

Updated

<?php
$string = "00787817878110d0a22278780d0a78783330d0a00";
preg_match_all('/7878.*?0d0a(?=7878|[^(7878)]*?$)/', $string, $arr);
print_r($arr);
?>

Gives an array $arr[0] => ( [0] => 787817878110d0a22278780d0a, [1] => 78783330d0a ). Strips leading and trailing garbage characters (whatever doesn't start with 7878 or end with 7878 or 0d0a.

So $arr[0] would be the array of values that you are looking for.

See example on ideone

Works with multiple 7878 values and multiple 0d0a values (even though that's ridiculous).

Update

If splitting is more your style, why not avoid regular expressions altogether?

<?php
$string = "787817878110d0a22278780d0a78783330d0a";
$arr = explode('0d0a7878', $string);
$string = implode('0d0a,7878', $arr);
$arr = explode(',', $string);
print_r($arr);
?>

Here we split the string by the delimiter 0d0a7878, which is what @CharlieGorichanaz's solution is doing, and props to him for the quick, accurate solution. We then add a comma, because who doesn't love comma separated values? And we explode again on the commas for an array of desired values. Performance-wise, this ought to be faster than using regular expressions. See example.

Answer 2

Use another positive lookahead (?=7878) to form:

preg_split('/(?<=0d0a)(?=7878)/',$string)

Note: I removed (?!$) because I wasn't sure what that was for, based on your example data.

For example, this code:

$string = "78781110d0a2220d0a78783330d0a";
$array  = preg_split('/(?<=0d0a)(?=7878)(?!$)/',$string);
print_r($array);

Results in:

Array ( [0] => 78781110d0a2220d0a [1] => 78783330d0a )

UPDATE:

Based on your revised question of having possible random characters at the end of the input string, you can add three lines to make a complete program of:

$string = "78781110d0a2220d0a787830d0a330d0a0000";
$array  = preg_split('/(?<=0d0a)(?=7878)/',$string);
$temp = preg_split('/(7878.*0d0a)/',$array[count($array)-1],null,PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY|PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
$array[count($array)-1] = $temp[0];
if(count($temp)>1) { $array[] = $temp[1]; }
print_r($array);

We basically do the initial splitting, then split the last element of the resulting array by the expected data format, keeping the delimiter using PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE. The PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY ensures we won't get an empty array element if the input string doesn't end in random characters.

UPDATE 2:

Based on your comment below where it seems you're implying there might be random characters between any of the desired matches, and you want these random characters preserved, you could do this:

$string = "0078781110d0a2220d0a2220d0a0000787830d0a330d0a000078781110d0a2220d0a0000787830d0a330d0a0000";
$split1 = preg_split('/(7878.*?0d0a)/',$string,null,PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY|PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
$result = array();
foreach($split1 as $e){
  $split2 = preg_split('/(.*0d0a)/',$e,null,PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY|PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
  foreach($split2 as $el){
    // test if $el doesn't start with 7878 and ends with 0d0a
    if(strpos($el,'7878') !== 0 && substr($el,-4) == '0d0a'){
    //if(preg_match('/^(?!7878).*0d0a$/',$el) === 1){
      $result[ count($result)-1 ] = $result[ count($result)-1 ] . $el;
    } else {
      $result[] = $el;
    }
  }
}
print_r($result);

The strategy employed here is different than above. First we split the input string based on the delimiter that matches your desired data, using the nongreedy regex .*?. At this point we have some strings that contain the ending of a desired value and some garbage at the end, so we split again based on the last occurrence of "0d0a" with the greedy regex .*0d0a. We then append any of those resulting values that don't start with "7878" but end with "0d0a" to the previous value, as this should repair the first and second halves that got split because it contained an extra "0d0a".

I provided two methods for the innermost if statement, one using regular expressions. The regex one is marginally slower in my testing, so I've left that one commented out.

I might still not have your full requirements, so you'll have to let me know if it works and perhaps provided your full dataset.

Answer 3

I think you are using a delimiter "0d0a" which also happens to be part of a content! Its not possible to avoid getting junk data as long as delimiter can also be part of content. Somehow delimiter must be unique.

Possible solutions.

• Change the delimited to something else that doesn't occur as part of your data ( 000000, @!.;)
• If you are definite about length of text that easy arrange item may have, use it. As per examples its not possible.

Solutions given in answers considering only sample data you have shared. If you are confidant about what will be the content of string, then these solutions given by others are pretty good to use. Otherwise these solutions wont assure you guarantee!

Best solution: Fix right delimiter then use regex or explode whatever you prefer.