Array search or alternative

[EngineeringGuy]

I am writing a function to convert a table of numbers from decimal e.g. (4.25) to fractional form (4 1/2) Certain columns of the table need to be ignored because they contain a letter or there is no fractional equivalent.  The fractional form is to a 1/16 accuracy.  (You can see a sample table here:  [url=http://www.piping-designer.com/pages/flanges/fl150wnrtj.php]http://www.piping-designer.com/pages/flanges/fl150wnrtj.php[/url])

I wrote the following function. My problem is this, when I search for items that are not listed in the array, it returns just the integer and that is unacceptable for this project.  I have tried creating a fraction with 16ths as a denominator and reducing the fraction using the Euclidian algorithm  but I reached same problem when the fraction would not reduce. How can I get the function to exit if $key is not found in the array?

Here's the code:
[code]<?php
function fraction($value){ // Define arrray that we are checking against

$values = array('1/16' => .0625, '1/8' => .125, '3/16' => .1875,
'1/4' => 0.25, '5/16' => .3125, '3/8' => .375, '7/16' => .4375,
'1/2' => .5, '9/16' => .5625, '5/8' => .625, '11/16' => .6875,
'3/4' => .75, '13/16' => .8125, '7/8' => .875, '15/16'=>.9375);

if (eregi('[[:alpha:]]', $value)) {
    return $value;                                        //contains any letter letter we're done here
}else{                                                                        //There are no letters so we continue
    $intnum=floor($value);                                 //take the value and round it down
    $dec = $value - $intnum;                                        //Get the decimal portion of the original value

    $key = array_search($dec, $values,strict); //search the array for the decimal value

if ($intnum < 1){                                                        //if the value is less than zero, then we will return just a fraction
$value = $key;
}else{                                                                     //otherwise we will return the integer and the fraction
$value = $intnum." ".$key;
}
  return $value;

}
}
?>[/code]

EDIT:  Tried to fix formatting but failed horribly

[LazyJones]

it return "just the integer" because this line
[code]$value = $intnum." ".$key;[/code]
gives just rounded up value (array_search() returns FALSE, so $key is empty)

You can check if array_seach() returns FALSE and return if it does ( return the original value, or what ever you want)

[EngineeringGuy]

Thanks a million!  I put this in:  if ($key){  and it worked like a charm!

[Barand]

try
[code]
<?php

function nearestFraction ($input) {
    $values = array('' => 0.0, '1/16' => .0625, '1/8' => .125, '3/16' => .1875,
        '1/4' => 0.25, '5/16' => .3125, '3/8' => .375, '7/16' => .4375,
        '1/2' => .5, '9/16' => .5625, '5/8' => .625, '11/16' => .6875,
        '3/4' => .75, '13/16' => .8125, '7/8' => .875, '15/16'=>.9375, '1'=> 1.0);

    $int = (int)floor($input);   
    $dec_in = $input - $int;

    $min = 1.0;
    $nearfrac = '';
    foreach  ($values as $frac => $dec) {
        if (abs($dec - $dec_in) < $min) {
            $min = abs($dec - $dec_in);
            $nearfrac = $frac;
        }
    }
    return ($nearfrac == '1') ? $int++ : "$int $nearfrac";
}

echo nearestFraction(5.905);
?>
[/code]