Comparing Array element against string

[rvdb86]

Hey guys,

 

I feel like a complete NOOB I just dont understand why the if statement that I am trying to use isn't working and I would really appreciate some help!

 

I am looping through an array, and when one of the elements matches a string I would like to output something:

 

Here is my code:

 

while($line = mysql_fetch_array($result)){

		if($line['action'] != "wow_displayed"){
			echo "WE HAVE IT! - ".$line['action'];
			echo "<br />";
		}
}

 

I really don't understand what I am doing wrong 

TIA for any help or suggestions!

[Barand]

perhaps if you used "==" instead of "!="

[rvdb86]

Sorry, I post the worng code (I was playing around trying different things to try get it working). Also == doesnt work

[Barand]

try echoing $line['action'] every time so you can see what it contains.

[rvdb86]

Hey Barand,

 

Thanks for helping me. I have tried this earlier, and as you can see from the output below it does not seem to work:

Code:

if($line['action'] != "wow_displayed"){
			echo $line['action'];
			echo "<br />";
		}

Output:

wow_displayed 
[b]lower_device[/b] 
raise_device 
videoplaceholder 
lower_device 
switchToObject1 

 

(to get the output I changed the if statement to !=  when it was set to == nothing was outputted.)

[PFMaBiSmAd]

Your actual data likely contains some white-space characters. How did this data originally get inserted into the database table?

 

Use var_dump($line['action']); to display the actual length of each piece of data.

 

Lastly, in general, you should not be looping through a result set from a query to 'find' if the result set contains a particular value. You should have a WHERE clause in your query statement so that the query only returns the row(s) you are interested in.

 

edit: fixed inline-code tag and the missing 'not' in the last paragraph

[ignace]

Try:

 

if (trim($line['action']) == "wow_displayed") {

 

Edit: Do as instructed by PFMaBiSmAd

[rvdb86]

Thanks for everyones help!

 

ignace your solution solved the problem! But never the less thanks to everyone for taking the time to reply and help out

 

[jazzman1]

Try:

 

if (trim($line['action']) == "wow_displayed") {

 

Edit: Do as instructed by PFMaBiSmAd

 

OR: 

if(trim(strip_tags($line['action'])) == "wow_displayed")

[ignace]

OR: 

if(trim(strip_tags($line['action'])) == "wow_displayed")

 

That won't do what you think it will:

 

var_dump(strip_tags('[b]foo?[/b]')); // Output: [b]foo?[/b]

[ignace]

ignace your solution solved the problem!

 

Did you read PFMaBiSmAd's post? You should take note to what he said and apply it!

 

Lastly, in general, you should be looping through a result set from a query to 'find' if the result set contains a particular value. You should have a WHERE clause in your query statement so that the query only returns the row(s) you are interested in.