help extracting data from a string

[asaschool]

Hey all,

I have a situation where I need to extract a name from a query string. Normally I would use substr() to extract the data I need but this is a different situation. I have a database with data such as this:

 

name (id number) phone - fax

namename (id number) phone - cell - fax

 

They are different with every row and I need to extract just the data (name) up until the beginning of the "(id number)" part. I know there is a way to do this by telling php to give me all of the data up to the "(", but I cannot figure out how to do this. Can anybody help?

 

Thanks in advance

[genericnumber1]

can you give me an example string along with what you want from that string?

 

Such as...

alfkn!~3flk~!sldfk

"I want the 3flk"

 

Just trying to be 100% sure I know what you want

 

EDIT: I think what you want is

$str = 'namename (id number) phone - cell - fax';
$pos = strpos($str, '(');
$name = trim(substr($str, 0, $pos));
echo $name; // echos namename

[asaschool]

Thank you for such a quick response.

 

Here is an example of what I need:

Johnny Newguy (ID:555555555) Office:555-555-5551

Mike Honcho (ID:666666666) Cellular:555-555-5552 Office:555-555-5553

Seamore Buttz (ID:3333333333) Primary:555-555-5554 Secondary:555-555-5555 Other:555-555-5556

 

What I need to be able to do is extract just their names from the string. So in this case I need to be able to display: Johnny Newguy, Mike Honcho, and Seamore Buttz. I tried to use the "(" as my identifier of where to stop the extraction, but have been unable to get it to work properly.

 

Thanks again.

 

[genericnumber1]

Okay, cool, thanks. Then see what I posted above thanks again for clarifying. I come on here after classes so my brain is fried, I often misunderstand people.

 

EDIT: I should also say, before someone else points it out, that

$str = 'namename (id number) phone - cell - fax';
$name = trim(strstr($str, '(', true));
echo $name; // echos namename

should also work, but you need to have a version of php past 5.3, so the first might be best for legacy systems/portability.

[asaschool]

Thats it! I guess I should of stopped trying to make substr work and try other syntax's. Thanks again I really appreciate it.