[SOLVED] PHP newbie question - pulling specific data out of a string...

[ShootingBlanks]

Hello.  Let's say I have a string of data that I've stored in a variable $textSting.  Now, I want to make that $textString variable be only the first 20 characters AFTER the 12th character (so, characters 13-33).  Here's some other things to note:

• The string will always have at least 12 characters, so cutting out the first twelve will always be an option
  
• The string may not have up to 20 characters that follow the 12th character - there may be any number less than that
  
• If the string has less than or equal to 20 characters after the 12th character, then I just need the total rest of the chacaters.  So, if there's 30 characters total, I'd want to cut out the first twelve, then display all of the remaining 18.
  
• If there are MORE than 20 characters, then after the 20 are displayed, I'd like to tack on "..." to the end of the last character
  

 

I hope all of this makes sense.  I'm pretty new to PHP (have only done a couple random projects), so I'm hoping to learn from any info/code than anyone can provide to me.  Thanks so much! - these forums are great!!!

 

[aschk]

$textString = substr ( $textString, 12 );

[aschk]

A fuller, more explicit example with checking might be :

 

$subString = substr($textString, 12, 20);

$totalExtraLength = strlen(substr($textString, 12));

if($totalExtraLength > 20){
  echo $subString."...";
} else {
  echo $subString;
}

 

 

[ShootingBlanks]

That worked great - thanks so much!  I checked the PHP reference manual too, so I understand what's going on...

 

One more thing, though...

 

...what if I wanted to amend the code so that if it encountered the character "<" (the "less than" sign) within the extra 20 characters in the $textString, then even if there WERE more than 20 extra characters, it would just stop there.  So, it would make it as though that "<" were making the $totalExtraLength less than 20, even if it really wasn't.

 

If that was confusing - here's an example...

 

$textString = "2007-12-03: This is a string.<br />2007-12-02: This is another string.  Now this string is more than 20 characters."

 

Okay, based on the string above, I would only want the following displayed:

 

This is a string.

 

I would not want:

 

This is a string.<br...

 

Is that possible?  Thanks!...

 

[aschk]

Change

$subString = substr($textString, 12, 20);

To :

$subString = substr(substr($textString, 12, 20),0,strpos(substr($textString, 12, 20),'<'));

[aschk]

My previous post might be rather inefficient, as a result here is the replacement code that for line :

$subString = substr($textString, 12, 20);
$subString = substr($subString,0,strpos($subString,'<'));

[aschk]

If you want to add some flexibility into this (in case something changes in the format you receive) consider the following instead :

 

$startPos = 12;
$maxLength = 20;
$stopChar = '<';

$subString = substr($textString, $startPos, $maxLength);

if(($stopPos = strpos($subString,$stopChar)) === FALSE){
$stopPos = strlen($subString);
}

$subString = substr($subString,0,$stopPos);

 

note: there is an error is the character doesn't exists in the specified space. This has now been corrected.

[ShootingBlanks]

If you want to add some flexibility into this (in case something changes in the format you receive) consider the following instead :

 

$startPos = 12;
$maxLength = 20;
$stopChar = '<';

$subString = substr($textString, $startPos, $maxLength);
$subString = substr($subString,0,strpos($subString),$stopChar));

 

I got an error with that about there being an extra ")", so I removed one from the end, and now I'm getting this error:

 

Warning: Wrong parameter count for strpos() in C:\htdocs\_PHP-SITES\ProjectBoard\index.php on line 162

 

[ShootingBlanks]

I saw that you edited your last post.  Now here's what's happening...

 

* If $totalExtraLength is less than 20 and does NOT have a "<" in it, then nothing is displayed.

 

* If $totalExtraLength is more than 20 and DOES have a "<" in it, then everything before the "<" is displayed, followed by "...".

 

* If $totalExtraLength is more than 20 and does NOT have a "<" in it, then "..." is displayed.

 

So, it's not working.  Do you have any other suggestions?  Thanks!...

 

EDITED: In the PHP manual, I saw that if the 2nd parameter in strpos is not found (in this case $stopChar), then it will return "FALSE".  I'm wondering if that is what is making nothing be displayed in the case that no "<" is found?

 

[aschk]

See my last post. I corrected several problems.

[ShootingBlanks]

Based on your help and the PHP Manual - I created a solution.  THANKS!!!  Here it is:

 

$startPos = 12;
$maxLength = 20;
$subStringBreak = false;

$subString = substr($textString, $startPos, $maxLength);
if (strpos($subString,'<')) {
$subString = substr($subString,0,strpos($subString,'<'));
$subStringBreak = true;
}

$totalExtraLength = strlen(substr($textString, $startPos));
if ($subStringBreak == false) {
if($totalExtraLength > $maxLength){
	$finalString = $subString . "...";
} else {
	$finalString = $subString;
}
} else {
$finalString = $subString;
$subStringBreak = false;
}

echo $finalString;