php/mysql Add CR before dd/mm/yyyy in string

[cjkeane]

Hi everyone,

 

i am retrieving data from mysql and displaying it in a table using the below coding. In the field string of $row['History'] there is a date followed by a description. This is how the data was inserted by the client previously. What I'd like to do is insert a CR just before the dd/mm/yyyy of each entry within the string.

 

<?php
        $ID = $_GET['ID'];
        $result = mysql_query("SELECT ID, History FROM historytable WHERE ID='$ID'") or die(mysql_error());  
        echo "<table border='0' cellpadding='1'>";
        echo "<tr>";
        while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result )) {
                echo "<tr>";
	echo '<td>' . preg_replace('/\d\d\//', '<br>$0', $row['History']). '</td>';
                echo "</tr>"; 
        } 
        echo "</table>";
?>

 

currently it's being displayed like so:

 

01/

08/2007 this is the first line of text

01/

04/2007 this is the second line of text

01/

04/2007 this is the third line of text

 

but i need it to be displayed like this.

 

01/08/2007 this is the first line of text

01/04/2007 this is the second line of text

01/04/2007 this is the third line of text

 

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Pikachu2000]

No need for a regex pattern to do what you described.

 

SELECT ID, CONCAT('<br>', History) FROM . . . 

[Psycho]

Are you sure there aren't already linebreaks in the data? I.e. does it look like this in the source of the HTML (if you don't add any formatting to it):

01/08/2007 this is the first line of text
01/04/2007 this is the second line of text
01/04/2007 this is the third line of text

 

If so, then all you need to do is output the data using nl2br() such as

while($row = mysql_fetch_array( $result ))
{
    $output = nl2br($row['History']);
    echo "<tr><td>{$output}</td></tr>\n";
} 

[cjkeane]

I'm sure there aren't any line breaks. If I display the data, it comes out word wrapped, like so:

 

01/08/2007 this is the first line of text 01/04/2007 this is the second line of text 01/04/2007 this is the third line of text

 

I need to some how insert a CR before each date so it lines up.

[Pikachu2000]

Are you saying that all of this 01/08/2007 this is the first line of text 01/04/2007 this is the second line of text 01/04/2007 this is the third line of text would be stored in the same field?

[cjkeane]

Yes, that's exactly what the field contains. It was actually imported from another db into mysql in that fashion, so the entire field contains that entire string. I know it would have been better to have the date in a completely separate field, but there was nothing I could do about how the data was previosly imported. All I want to do is line up the data so that each date is underneath each other. I hope that makes sense.

 

[xyph]

Check for more than just \d\d/... like the entire date pattern

[cjkeane]

No need for a regex pattern to do what you described.

 

SELECT ID, CONCAT('<br>', History) FROM . . . 

 

I have tried your suggestion and it still comes out as:

 

01/08/2007 this is the first line of text 01/04/2007 this is the second line of text 01/04/2007 this is the third line of text

[Pikachu2000]

Yeah, I thought each of those date/string pairs was in its own record when I posted that.

 

This pattern seems to work when I test it, but I'm not sure it's the best thing to use. Maybe someone else can chime in and say whether it's OK or not; regex isn't one of my strongest areas (not by a long shot).

 

preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z]+?\s/', '<br>$0', $row['History']);

[cjkeane]

Yeah, thoughe each of those date/string pairs was in its own record when I posted that.

 

This pattern seems to work when I test it, but I'm not sure it's the best thing to use. Maybe someone else can chime in and say whether it's OK or not; regex isn't one of my strongest areas (not by a long shot).

 

preg_replace('/[^a-zA-Z]+?\s/', '<br>$0', $row['History']);

 

it's getting closer, but now it displays as:

 

01/08/2007

this is the first line of text

01/04/2007

this is the second line of text

01/04/2007

this is the third line of text

[xyph]

Again, just change the damn RegEx in the OP to match the entire date, and not just two digits followed by a forward slash.

 

It's easy enough to do, but if OPs coded the original snippet, he should be able to do it no problems

[cjkeane]

Again, just change the damn RegEx in the OP to match the entire date, and not just two digits followed by a forward slash.

 

It's easy enough to do, but if OPs coded the original snippet, he should be able to do it no problems

 

i resolved it by using: preg_replace('/(\d\d)\/(\d\d)\/(\d\d\d\d)/', '<br>$0', $row['History'])

 

thanks for the tip!