[SOLVED] php implode function

[raman]

I have a Mysql database in which I have a field which has more than one data entry which I have stored as

45GH6YT;HYT87686;9009JUYH

 

In the browser however I want to give a  link for each of the entries and show them separated by a space.I am trying to use the implode function but donot get the desired output.

I have tried implode('&nbsp',$pc) as well as implode('  ',$pc) , but I don't get the separation.This is my loop.:

 

echo"<tr>
<th BGCOLOR='#99CCFF' width='20' >Pubmed Id </th>";

$pc=explode(";",$pm);
echo"<td>";
foreach($pc as $t)
  {
    $tmp=array();
    $tmp[]='<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids='.$t.'">'.$t.'</a>';
    echo ''.implode("  ",$tmp) .'';
    //  $rety=implode(' ',$tmp);
    //  echo "$rety";
  }
echo"</td></tr>";

 

[JasonLewis]

Do it outside the loop, and also declare your $tmp array outside the loop, otherwise you'll just be overwriting it each time.

 

echo"<tr>
<th BGCOLOR='#99CCFF' width='20' >Pubmed Id </th>";

$pc=explode(";",$pm);
echo"<td>";

$tmp=array();
foreach($pc as $t)
  {
    $tmp[]='<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids='.$t.'">'.$t.'</a>';
  }
echo implode(" ", $tmp);
echo"</td></tr>";

[GingerRobot]

Why are you storing multiple pieces of information in a single field? Chances are, you should be using another table.

[raman]

I am not storing multiple pieces of information but different ids for the same entry in a field separated by a semi-colon(.

*****************************

I want to overwrite it every time,that's why I have put it in the loop,so that everytime it goes to the next row of the table it is overwritten.

 

****************************

MY PROBLEM REMAINS UNSOLVED.

[bobbinsbro]

your problem is that $tmp is always an array that contains only 1 element, so imploding it around a " " does nothing - the single element becomes a string as is.

 

this does what i think you want:

<?php 
$pm = "45GH6YT;HYT87686;9009JUYH";
echo"<tr>
<th BGCOLOR='#99CCFF' width='20' >Pubmed Id </th>";

$pc=explode(";",$pm);
echo"<td>";
foreach($pc as $t)
  {
   // $tmp=array();
    $tmp='<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids='.$t.'">'.$t.'</a>';
echo $tmp." ";
    // implode(" ",$tmp);
    // $rety=implode('   ',$tmp);
    //  echo "$rety";
  }
echo"</td></tr>";
?>

[JasonLewis]

What? How can it only contain one element.

 

<?php
$string = "45GH6YT;HYT87686;9009JUYH";
$pc=explode(";",$string);
echo"<td>";

$tmp=array();
foreach($pc as $t)
  {
    $tmp[]='<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids='.$t.'">'.$t.'</a>';
  }
echo implode(" ", $tmp);
?>

 

It will contain 3 elements, and that code will display the links separated by a space. I tested it.

[bobbinsbro]

yes, done your way. but he specified that he doesn't want to define $tmp outside the loop, because he wanted the contents of $tmp overwritten each time the loop iterates. look up 1 post before mine.

[JasonLewis]

That makes no sense. Both of our codes produce the exact same output...

 

I want to overwrite it every time,that's why I have put it in the loop,so that everytime it goes to the next row of the table it is overwritten.

 

What? Sorry, but really... This doesn't make sense to me.

[bobbinsbro]

i agree with out completely. i was just explaining why his way wasn't working for him.

[JasonLewis]

Oh, my bad. Sorry.

[raman]

THE CODE given by bobbinsbro works FINE FOR ME but I am still wondering why the implode function did not work for me as I wanted it to work inside the loop and overwritten everytime it came to the next row of the MYsql table.

 

If someone can tell this , nice but anyway thanks to bobbinsbro.

[bobbinsbro]

well, you redeclared $tmp as an empty array() in every iteration of the loop. then you set element 0 to contain the <a></a> tags. then you imploded only 1 element around the space (" ") character. implode does not append the $glue onto the end of each element, but rather performs a concatenation of all elements, separating them by the $glue. so when you only have 1 element, the concatenation is simply:

$oneElement = $oneElement;

and not:

$oneElement = $oneElement.$glue;

and so, declaring $tmp as an array was doing nothing for you. so i dropped that, and now each iteration of the loop, the string variable $tmp gets overwitten, like you wanted, and a space character is concatenated to it on echo, instead of the unsuccessful implode.

 

that's as thorough an explanation as i can manage.

[raman]

Thanks bobbinsbro

[bobbinsbro]

np.

please set topic to solved.