Breaking down a String

[creiss]

Hey folks!

 

I have like 4000 logfiles that I would like to push over into a database. The loglines are like this

 

[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.

 

So in a more general view:

[date] descriptor: text

 

Now, there are space-delimiters, and the only way to split up the string is the "[" and "]" char, as well as the ":" char, and everything else that follows.

 

I'd like to have an array/ 3 vars like this

 

$date = datestamp w/o the "[" and "]",

$desc = descriptor, everything bewteen the "] " (note the exclusion of the first space after the "]" char) and the ":" char,

and

$text = everything from ":" to end.

 

each line in the log is a new entry, there are no multi-line entries.

 

Anyone could help me with splitting that bastard up?

 

Thank you all in advance,

Merry (remaining) Christmas,

-Chris.

[drummer101]

You'll have to use 3 different vars for it, but explode() is what you're looking for

 

http://us2.php.net/explode

[creiss]

You'll have to use 3 different vars for it, but explode() is what you're looking for

 

http://us2.php.net/explode

 

I'd agree, but so far it seems that I can'T specify start and ending points with explode, only a dividing delimiter and a limit. But the limit is not known, as it is another, different char.

 

-Chris.

[AndyB]

split on ] to produce two array variables (strings)

str_replace the [ from the first, and explode the second on the : delimiter to produce the other two parts

[kenrbnsn]

This seems like a task for regular expressions, but since I'm no good at them, I'll leave it up to someone who does them to answer...

 

Ken

[drummer101]

use substr() to strip the date and time from the string

 

$test = "[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

echo substr($test, 0, 19); // Should return "12.10.2005 14:34:32"

 

As for the rest I'm going to assume that they are going to be of varying length so you cant know exactly when and where they begin and end.

 

I'll get back to you on the rest, but it's a start

[creiss]

use substr() to strip the date and time from the string

 

$test = "[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

echo substr($test, 0, 19); // Should return "12.10.2005 14:34:32"

 

As for the rest I'm going to assume that they are going to be of varying length so you cant know exactly when and where they begin and end.

 

I'll get back to you on the rest, but it's a start

 

And what if the date is malformed, as in am:

$test = "[12.10.2005 4:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

 

Meh

 

-Chris.

[Northern Flame]

for the rest you could just do this:

(im taking the first part from drummer101)

 

$test = "[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

$nobracket = substr($test, 0, 19); // Should return "12.10.2005 14:34:32"

$take_space = explode(' ', $nobracket);

$one = explode(".", $take_space[0]);

$two = explode(":", $take_space[1]);

 

foreach($one as $n => $date){

echo $date . "<br>\n";

}

echo "<br>\n";

foreach($two as $no => $time){

echo $time . "<br>\n";

}

 

the above code should return

 

12

10

2005

 

14

34

32

[kenrbnsn]

Here's my solution using the explode() function:

<?php
function breakstring($str) {
list ($dmy,$str1) = explode('[',$str);
list ($date,$tmp) = explode(']',$str1);
list ($desc,$text) = explode(':',$tmp);
$desc = trim($desc);
$text = trim($text);
return(array($date,$desc,$text));
}

$str = '[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.';
list ($date,$desc,$text) = breakstring($str);
echo 'Original string: ' . $str . "<br>\n";
echo 'Date: ' . $date . "<br>\n";
echo 'Desc: ' . $desc . "<br>\n";
echo 'Text: ' . $text . "<br>\n";
?>

 

Ken

[drummer101]

use substr() to strip the date and time from the string

 

$test = "[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

echo substr($test, 0, 19); // Should return "12.10.2005 14:34:32"

 

As for the rest I'm going to assume that they are going to be of varying length so you cant know exactly when and where they begin and end.

 

I'll get back to you on the rest, but it's a start

 

And what if the date is malformed, as in am:

$test = "[12.10.2005 4:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

 

Meh

 

-Chris.

What I posted assumed you were using mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss

 

Your answer was the exception

 

position 0, 19 in that case would be "12.10.2005 4:34:32]" and from there you could use str_replace()

$text = "[12.10.2005 4:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

$strip = "]";

echo str_replace(substr($text, 0, 19)); // Should return 12.10.2005 4:34:32

 

You could also use

$strip = array("[", "]");

$text = "[12.10.2005 4:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.";

$sub = substr($text, 0, 20);

$date = str_replace($strip, "", $sub);

echo $date;

 

Edit: I like Ken's answer better

[creiss]

You guys are awesome.

Solved my problem in under half an hour.

 

I will test the solutions tomorrow, as its 01:00 am here, and time for bed.

 

Cya all tomorrow, and thanks again!

-Chris.

 

[Barand]

My 0.02 worth

 

<?php 

function parseStr($str)
{
    $k = strlen($str);
    $data = array();
    $i = 0;

    for ($j=0; $j<$k; $j++)
    {
        switch ($c = $str[$j])
        {
            case '[':
                break;
            case ']':
                $i++;
                $j++;
                break;
            case ':':
                if ($str[$j+1] == ' ') {
                    $i++;
                    $j++;
                }
                else $data[$i] .= $c; 
                break;
            default:
                $data[$i] .= $c;
        }
    }
    return $data;
}

$txt = '[12.10.2005 14:34:32] httpd: started http daemon.';

list ($date, $desc, $text) = parseStr($txt);

echo "$date | $desc | $text" ;
?>

//--> 12.10.2005 14:34:32 | httpd | started http daemon.

[kenrbnsn]

Here's the solution using regular expressions. I took it as a challenge to figure this out...

<?php
preg_match_all("/\[(.+)\] (.+).+)$/",$str,$out);
$tmp = array();
foreach ($out as $val)
$tmp[] = $val[0];
list ($dmy,$date1,$desc1,$text1) = $tmp;
echo 'Original string: ' . $dmy . "<br>\n";
echo 'Date: ' . $date1 . "<br>\n";
echo 'Desc: ' . $desc1 . "<br>\n";
echo 'Text: ' . $text1 . "<br>\n";
?>

 

Ken