help using IMPLODE() function

[ceci]

I have a form that passes the following array 'fruits'. The ARRAY can contain up to 30 items ( or 30 different fields ).

It gets store in the following format: |oranges | apples | pears |... into MySQL.

 

Before saving to MySQL, I do following:

if(is_array($fruits)){
$fruitarray = "|" . implode("|",$fruits));
}

 

Now if I

print_r($_POST); 

I see the following:

 

[fruits] => Array
        (
            [1] => |oranges 
            [2] => apples 
            [3] => pears
            [4] => 
            [5] => 
            [6] => 
            [7] => 
            [8] => 
            [9] => 
            [10] => 
            [11] => 
            [12] => 
            [13] => 
            [14] => 
            [15] => 
            [16] => 
            [17] => 
            [18] => 
            [19] => 
            [20] => 
            [21] => 
            [22] => 
            [23] => 
            [24] => 
            [25] => 
            [26] => 
            [27] => 
            [28] => 
            [29] => 
            [30] => 
        )

 

Here it the problem. On the database, I get extra "|"s at the end. 

|oranges | apples | pears |||||||||||||||||||||||| How can I get rid of these extra pipes

 

Is there a some kind of unset($fruits) or something to ignore empty arrays?

 

Thank you for in advance.

 

ceci

[teamatomic]

You have an array with many empty values:

$new_fruits = array_values($fruits);

$fruitarray = "|" . implode("|",$new_fruits));

 

HTH

Teamatomic

[ceci]

I tried your code and this is what I get:

|item 1|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

 

print_r($fruits) returns this

 [fruts] => Array
        (
            [1] => item 1
            [2] => 
            [3] => 
            [4] => 
            [5] => 
            [6] => 
            [7] => 
            [8] => 
            [9] => 
            [10] => 
            [11] => 
            [12] => 
            [13] => 
            [14] => 
            [15] => 
            [16] => 
            [17] => 
            [18] => 
            [19] => 
            [20] => 
            [21] => 
            [22] => 
            [23] => 
            [24] => 
            [25] => 
            [26] => 
            [27] => 
            [28] => 
            [29] => 
            [30] => 
        )

 

I know the empty arrays are causing the problem. I thought the is_array() function would take care of that. No?

 

thank you for your help.

 

Ceci

[JasonLewis]

You'll need to basically "clean" the array:

 

function array_clean($array){
$tmp = array();
foreach($array as $element){
	if(str_replace(" ", "", $element) != ""){
		$tmp[] = $element;
	}
}
return $tmp;
}

$fruits = array_clean($_POST['fruits']);

$fruitarray = "|" . implode("|", $fruits);

 

So basically you just loop through and make sure that each element in the array has a value, if it does then add it to a temporary variable, then return that variable.

 

Good luck.

[ceci]

Thank you! That fixed that problem.

 

My other issue I noticed is on the update.  Every time I update I get an extra "|" added at the beginning. For instance, this is my new string stored on the MySQL database after 3 updates.

 

|||new item|item 2|item3

 

My other question is, how can I ensure that the items stored are always very tight(no whitespaces between the items) like this:

 

DESIRED: 

|item 1|item 2|item 3|item 4|

 

NOT DESIRED: (notice spaces) 

|item 1 |item 2 | item 3|item 4|

 

Thanks again for saving my life.

 

Ceci

[teamatomic]

you're right, my bad. array_filter()

 

 

HTH

Teamatomic

[ceci]

would that function be used as follows?

 

$fruits = array_filter(array_clean($_POST['fruits']));

[JasonLewis]

Ah, use array_filter() instead of that function  I gave you. Also look at trim to remove whitespace.

[teamatomic]

$fruits = array_filter(array_clean($_POST['fruits']));

Do a print_r and see if you can use it like that.

 

Otherwise just

$fruits = array_clean($_POST['fruits']);

$new_fruits = array_filter($fruits);

$fruitarray = "|" . implode("|",$new_fruits));

 

 

HTH

Teamatomic

[ceci]

Thank you  kindly.  And I will try to posting understandable questions. Thanks again. C