CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpmysqlarrays
Oliver 'Oli' Jensen
Oliver 'Oli' Jensen

Reputation: 2651

Storing multiple values in one field

I have a script that will insert a value in a cell, in my database. That cell will contain 4 values total. It should look like this: 0;0;0;0 (Each '0', represents a value)

How can I insert example value 100, at the place where '0' number 3 is, so it will look like this:

0;0;100;0

Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 1891

Answers (3)

jondavidjohn
jondavidjohn

Reputation: 62392

This is bad database design and breaks the first normal form of database design.

I would recommend re-thinking your schema and data architecture.

Maybe break them out into individual columns.

Your data should be designed relationally to minimize repeating patterns in your columns (see link above)

I can almost guarantee you that there is a better way...

Upvotes: 2

Billy Moon
Billy Moon

Reputation: 58521

<?php

    // original string of values seperated by colon
    $string = "0;0;0;0";

    // create array of values by splitting at colons
    $vals = preg_split('/;/', $string);

    // modify the value of any elements in your array
    $vals[2] = 100;

    // glue your array of values together with semicolons at the joins
    $string = implode(';',$vals);

    // check the value has been changed coreectly
    echo $string;

?>

Upvotes: 0

Sabeen Malik
Sabeen Malik

Reputation: 10880

look into serialize() and unserialize()

$array = array(0,20,103,330);
$string = serialize($array); // store this in db

then get the string from db:

$array = unserialize($string);

access/update values with the array and re-store in db

Or if you are stuck with the format:

$string = '0;0;100;0'; // coming from db
$array = explode(';' , $string);
$array[2] = 100;
$string = implode(';' , $array);

Upvotes: 1

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