CODEWITHSUNDEEP
php
santa
santa

Reputation: 12512

Building array from string values

I have a table that has a column with data stored as comma-separated strings.

I need to output the table contents and build an array from these values (don't need any keys).

I need to remove duplicates and sort it in alphabetical order.

$arr = array();

foreach ($myTable AS $t) {
    $str = $t->myStr;
    array_push($arr, $str);
} 

array_unique($arr);
asort($arr);

I did print_r($arr); Now I see values but they are still an array of strings. Something like this:

Array ( [1] => Chinese, Asian Fusion, Food Trucks [0] => Chinese, Asian Fusion, Gluten-Free [2] => Chinese, Barbeque [3] => Dim Sum, Seafood, Soup )

What I would like to see is:

Array ('Asian Fusion', 'Barbeque', 'Chinese', 'Food Trucks', 'Gluten-Free'...);

Upvotes: 1

Views: 63

Answers (2)

fusion3k
fusion3k

Reputation: 11689

You have to change this line:

array_push( $arr, $str );

in:

$arr = array_merge( $arr, explode( ',', $str) );

and this:

array_unique( $arr );

in:

$arr = array_unique( $arr );

array_push() add the comma-separated string to the array. Using explode() you obtain an array with single values, then you have to merge this array with main array. You can't use array_push() with exploded array, because using it you will obtain a multidimensional array ( [ [Chinese,Asian,...] , [Chinese,Asian,...] ] ).

array_unique() doesn't change the original array, but it return the modified array, so you have to catch the result in a variable.

Edit:

The delimiter must be the complete separation string.
So, if your string is like this:

Chinese, Asian Fusion, Food Trucks
        ^             ^

you have to use:

$arr = array_merge( $arr, explode( ', ', $str) );
//                                   ^

Upvotes: 3

Arthur
Arthur

Reputation: 2889

$arr = array();

foreach ($myTable AS $t) {
    $str = $t->myStr;
    $arr = array_merge($arr, explode(', ', $str))
} 

$arr = array_unique($arr);
asort($arr);

print_r($arr);

Upvotes: 2

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