CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpregexstringcharactertrim
Tobias
Tobias

Reputation: 319

PHP Regex — Remove all characters but first from last word in string

I researched quite a long time before posting, but I couldn't come up with an answer.

I'm trying to remove all characters but the first from a string. The string is going to be a name. The name can have a first name and a last name, as well as a middle name. So my task is to explode the string into words and find the last one, remove the characters and add a dot to the first letter. Moreover, if present in the string, the middle name should not be in the result.

For example: Chuck Ray Norris should transform into Chuck N.

I tried a couple of regex and strpos but this task is too difficult for me and my skills.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 985

Answers (5)

daxeh
daxeh

Reputation: 1085

Alternatively, if it is just a string with the requirements:

Chuck Ray Norris -> Chuck N

Then using explode(), substr() and strlen():

<?php
  $string = "Chuck Ray Norris";

  // break string into words
  $array = explode(" ", $string);

  // keep the first word, keep the last word's first character
  // ensure we have broken into vaid parts
  $length = count($array);
  if($length > 2) {
    // ie. Chuck Norris
    $first_word = $array[0];
    $last_word = $array[$length-1];

    // get first character, 
    $first_character = substr($last_word, 0, 1);
  }
  // else case is omitted

  print "$first_word $first_character\n"; // outputs Chuck N

?>

string substr ( string $string , int $start [, int $length ] )

Ex: substr($last_word, 0, 1)

  • int $start: the length of "Norris" is 6, so first position is 0
  • int $length: we need only 1 character, therefore position 0, "N";

Hope this helps.

Upvotes: 0

eagle12
eagle12

Reputation: 1668

This is how I would do it:

$pos = strrpos($string, " ");

$pos = $pos === false ? 0 : $pos + 1;

$char = substr($string,$pos,1);

Upvotes: 0

Josua M C
Josua M C

Reputation: 3148

i don't know if this will work, but try this

<?php

$fullName = 'Chuck Ray Norris';
//$fullName = 'Chuck Ray';
//$fullName = 'Chuck';

$names = explode(' ', $fullName);
if((count($names) == 3) && isset($names[2])){
    echo $names[0] . ' ' . $names[2][0] . '.';
}else{
    if((count($names) == 2) && isset($names[1])){
        echo $names[0] . ' ' . $names[1][0] . '.';
    }else{
        echo $names[0];
    }
}

?>

try to change the $fullName to 'Chuck Ray' or 'Chuck' its still working also.

Upvotes: 0

Wiktor Stribiżew
Wiktor Stribiżew

Reputation: 626699

A non-regex solution for "FirstName SecondName ThirdName... LastName" pattern:

<?php
$str = "Chuck Ray Norris";
$spls = explode(" ", $str);
echo $spls[0] . " " . $spls[count($spls)-1][0] . ".";

Output:

Chuck N.

Upvotes: 2

anubhava
anubhava

Reputation: 784958

You can use:

$s = 'Chuck Ray Norris';
$r = preg_replace('/^(\S+)\s+(?:\S+\s+)*(\S)\S*$/', '$1 $2.', $s);
//=> Chuck N.

$s = 'Chuck Norris';
$r = preg_replace('/^(\S+)\s+(?:\S+\s+)*(\S)\S*$/', '$1 $2.', $s);
//=> Chuck N.

$s = 'Chuck N.';
$r = preg_replace('/^(\S+)\s+(?:\S+\s+)*(\S)\S*$/', '$1 $2.', $s);
//=> Chuck N.

(?:\S+\s+)* is used for making 1 or more middle names optional. It also takes care of the case when name is already in desired format (case 3 above).

Upvotes: 2

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