PHP explode array then loop through values and output to variable

Question

The string I am trying to split is $item['category_names'] which for example contains Hair, Fashion, News

I currently have the following code:

$cats = explode(", ", $item['category_names']);
foreach($cats as $cat) {
    $categories = "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";
}

I want the outcome of $categories to be like the following so I can echo it out later somewhere.

<category>Hair</category>\n
<category>Fashion</category>\n
<category>News</category>\n

Not sure if I am going the right way about this?

does it work? That's a pretty good smoke test. if you do $categories .= it would at least do what you appear to be expecting. — AD7six
– AD7six, Commented May 18, 2012 at 10:31
I would explode on , and then trim the result, not explode on , — Nanne
– Nanne, Commented May 18, 2012 at 10:32
Perhaps you might be interested in using the simpleXML object. It's a fairly simple and sturdy way of creating xml files — Elias Van Ootegem
– Elias Van Ootegem, Commented May 18, 2012 at 10:33

Maxim Krizhanovsky · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18 10:33:31Z

31

In your code you are overwritting the $categories variable in each iteration. The correct code would look like:

$categories = '';
$cats = explode(",", $item['category_names']);
foreach($cats as $cat) {
    $cat = trim($cat);
    $categories .= "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";
}

update: as @Nanne suggested, explode only on ','

answered May 18, 2012 at 10:33

Maxim Krizhanovsky

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2 Comments

Maxim Krizhanovsky Over a year ago

@AD7six nobody states that this is the only solution, it's actually fixed version of the OP's code; so yeah, it's the correct version of what OP's implementation.

AD7six Over a year ago

except "what's wrong with my code" isn't the question that has been asked

Aaron W. · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18 10:48:46Z

2

Without a for loop

$item['category_names'] = "Hair,   Fashion,   News";
$categories = "<category>".
        implode("</category>\n<category>", 
        array_map('trim', explode(",", $item['category_names']))) . 
        "</category>\n";
echo $categories;

edited May 18, 2012 at 10:48

answered May 18, 2012 at 10:42

Aaron W.

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3 Comments

AD7six Over a year ago

This doesn't simplify anything and array_map('trim', $cats) is a lot simpler (and efficient) than using array_walk and create function

Aaron W. Over a year ago

array_map is what I was looking for earlier! Thanks.

AD7six Over a year ago

much better :) - formatting so it fits in the code window (or not using multiple php functions on one line) would make it easier to read

Divya Sekar · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-15 10:00:30Z

2

PHP explode array by loop demo: http://sandbox.onlinephpfunctions.com/code/086402c33678fe20c4fbae6f2f5c18e77cb3fbc2

its works for me

<?php

$str = "name:john,hone:12345,ebsite:www.23.com";

$array=explode(",",$str);

if(count($array)!=0)
{
foreach($array as $value)
{

    $data=explode(":",$value);

      echo $data[0]."=".$data[1];


    echo ' ';

}
}
?>

edited Sep 15, 2018 at 10:00

answered Sep 15, 2018 at 7:18

Divya Sekar

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2 Comments

Divya Sekar Over a year ago

@Pierre.Vriens what do you want can u plz explain it

Pierre.Vriens Over a year ago

posting code with no explanation is perceived as low quality. You should also explain why/how the code you posted does actually answer the question being asked. E.g.: "part ... in the code so and so (as included in the question) contains an error. I.e. this and this is wrong. Instead it should be corrected like this ... This actually solves your error because ....". PS: "read the source" is not high quality either.

Wampie Driessen · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18 10:35:16Z

1

if you use this:

$cats = explode(", ", $item['category_names']);
foreach($cats as $cat) {
$categories = "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";
}

the $categories string is overwritten each time, so "hair" and "fasion" are lost..

if you however add a dot before the equal sign in the for loop, like so:

$cats = explode(", ", $item['category_names']);
foreach($cats as $cat) {
$categories .= "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";
}

the $catergories string will consist of all three values :)

answered May 18, 2012 at 10:35

Wampie Driessen

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Comments

AD7six · Accepted Answer · 2012-05-18 10:56:31Z

0

The error in your code is this:

$categories = "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";

You are overwriting $categories at each iteration, it should be:

$categories .= "<category>" . $cat . "</category>\n";

Not sure if I am going the right way about this?

find and replace isn't what explode is for. If you just want to correct the code error - see above.

This is more efficient:

$categories = "<category>" .
    str_replace(', ', "</category>\n<category>", $input) . 
    "</category>\n";

And this also accounts for variable whitespace:

$categories = "<category>" . 
    preg_replace('@\s*,\s*@', "</category>\n<category>", $input) . 
    "</category>\n";

edited May 18, 2012 at 10:56

answered May 18, 2012 at 10:42

AD7six

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