[SOLVED] Array Question

[dcahrakos]

Hey,

 

I am currently working on a project that stores user data into a field in a mysql db like so:

username|1|1|Dcahrakos<end>

random|10|10|Just some Text<end>

 

and I need to loop through all the data in the field, and first separate it by the <end> tag, then after that is done, I need to separate it by the | tags.

 

Now, for the life of me I cant get a working script that will loop through all the data, split it, and store all the data that gets split into variables...I need to eventually parse this data for a script that will generate an image based on this data.

 

So my question is, does anyone know a good way to loop through all the data(as there will be varying amounts), then get the array's into separate variables for each? I just cant seem to  loop through and store all the data into an array for some reason, everything ive tried has failed.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[DyslexicDog]

What's your query string look like most of the data manipulation should be done by the database.

[dcahrakos]

Well right now I just have it fetching the data out of the database like so

$query = mysql_query("SELECT * from sig WHERE uid='1'") or die(mysql_error());

$result = mysql_fetch_array($query);

$textdata = $result['textdata'];

 

so after I get it from the database, then is when I have to split, and organize everything into arrays, then parse the data.

[discomatt]

<?php

$textdata = 'username|1|1|Dcahrakos<end>
random|10|10|Just some Text<end>';

$group = explode( '<end>', $textdata );
$arraydata = array();

foreach ( $group as $part ) {
$part = trim($part);
if ( !empty($part) )
	$arraydata[] = explode( '|', $part );
}

print_r( $arraydata );

?>

[dcahrakos]

Thats perfect, now all I will have to do is loop through the array, then parse each element.

 

Thanks alot!

[discomatt]

It's also possible to make an associative array with the script, or use the username as the key of the array's first dimension. Simply store the exploded $part in a placeholder array, and define

 

$arraydata[ $placeholder[0] ] = array( 'num1' => $placeholder[1], 'num2' => $placeholder[2], 'text' => $placeholder[3] );

[dcahrakos]

The way it is now, actually works perfectly for me,

 

Just get the size of the first dimension, then do a loop through them all and parse the second dimension since the second dimensions size never changes, there will always be 4 elements in it.

 

Thanks for the help

[DyslexicDog]

Why are you storing all your data in one column in your database? The point of a database is to handle these kind of things.

[DarkWater]

That's a horrible way to store database information.  Read up on "database normalization".