detect a space in a variable

[jeff5656]

Let's say I have a variable $x that equals "john smith" and another instance $x equals  "Johnson".

I want to do something like:

 

IF there is a space between 2 words, THEN $newvariable1 = smith and $newvariable2 = John

else: do nothing (i.e. if it's only johnson).

 

How on earth do i do this? :-)

[xyph]

<?php 

$str = 'John Smith Wilson';

if( ($pos = strpos($str,' ')) !== FALSE ) {
// I don't use explode here in case there's 2 or more spaces
$first = substr( $str,0,$pos );
$last = substr( $str,$pos+1 );
echo "'$first' '$last'";
} else
echo $str;

?>

 

If you aren't worried about multiple spaces, then this code will do, keep in mind any spaces beyond 1 will be lost

 

$str = 'John Smith';

if( strpos($str,' ') !== FALSE ) {
list( $first, $last ) = explode( ' ', $str );
echo "'$first' '$last'";
} else
echo $str;

[dougjohnson]

You could use "explode".

 

$variable = "John Doe";

$explodedvariable = explode(" ",$variable);

$fullname = trim($explodedvariable[0] . " " . $explodedvariable[1]);

[xyph]

What happens with 'John Doe Wilson' though?

[jeff5656]

Great thanks I will try that.  One question.  Is it really

!==

for NOT equal?  I always thought it was

!= (one equal sign not two)

[AbraCadaver]

Great thanks I will try that.  One question.  Is it really

!==

for NOT equal?  I always thought it was

!= (one equal sign not two)

Strict type checking:

 

0 == false

0 !== false

[Alex]

You can read more about that and other operators here in the manual.

[xyph]

The reason I use !== can be shown in code

 

<?php 

$var = 0;

if( $var == FALSE )
echo 'This will be output';
if( $var === FALSE )
echo 'This will not be output';

?>

 

The function strpos() returns an offset, which can be 0, or FALSE if the string is not found. For example

 

<?php 

$var = 'Hello World';

$test = strpos( $var, 'Hello' );

if( $test == FALSE )
echo 'This will be output, even though the string was found';

if( $test === FALSE )
echo 'This will not be output, because the function returned 0, not exactly FALSE';

?>

 

So, == and != doesn't know the difference between FALSE and 0, or TRUE and a value > 0, while === and !== does.

 

The types of variables compared makes a difference too, when using the EXACT comparison

<?php 

$var = "1";

if( $var == 1 )
echo 'This will be output, even though $var is actually a string';

if( $var === 1 )
echo 'This will not be output, because variable type matters in EXACT comparison';

?>

 

Hope that helps.

[DavidAM]

If you aren't worried about multiple spaces, then this code will do, keep in mind any spaces beyond 1 will be lost

 

. . .

 

Explode accepts an optional third parameter to specify the maximum number of elements to return:

$str = 'John Smith Wilson';

if( ($pos = strpos($str,' ')) !== FALSE ) {
list( $first, $last ) = explode( ' ', $str , 2 ); // WE ONLY WANT TWO NAME PARTS
echo "'$first' '$last'";
} else
echo $str;

[xyph]

Did not know that about explode.

 

DavidAM has the best solution.