Stringing together variables, str_replace. Tidier way to do this? - php

Question

I have a bunch of variables that I want to string together. They all need to be tidied up by removing spaces and commas, and converting to dashes (I'm constructing a URL).
I have a very basic understanding of PHP, but I feel my code below could be tidier and more efficient. Could you point me to some resources or make some suggestions please?
Here's what I have:
$propNum = $prop->Address->Number;
$propStreet = $prop->Address->Street;
$propTown = $prop->Address->Town;
$propPost = $prop->Address->Postcode;
$propFullAdd = array($propNum, $propStreet, $propTown, $propPost);
$propFullAddImp = implode(" ",$propFullAdd);
$propFullAddTidy = str_replace(str_split(' ,'),'-', strtolower($propFullAddImp));
echo $propFullAddTidy;

Answer 1

From the output of your existing code, it seems like you may want an output that looks something like:
12345-example-street-address-example-town-example-postcode
In this case, you could use this solution:
//loop through all the values of $prop->Address
foreach($prop->Address as $value) {
//for each value, replace commas & space with dash
//store altered value in new array `$final_prop`
$final_prop[] = str_replace([' ', ','], '-', $value);
/*
Removing `str_split(' ,')` and subbing an array makes the loop "cheaper" to do,
Because the loop doesn't have to call the `str_split()` function on every iteration.
*/
}
//implode `$final_prop` array to dash separated string
//also lowercase entire string at once (cheaper than doing it in the loop)
$final_prop = strtolower(implode('-', $final_prop));
echo $final_prop;
if you remove the comments, this solution is only 4 lines (instead of 7), and is completely dynamic. This means if you add more values to $prop->Address, you don't have to change anything in this code.
A different method
I feel like this would usually be handled by using http_build_query(), which converts an array into a proper URL-encoded query string. This means that each value in the array would be passed as it's own variable in the URL query.
First, $propFullAdd is not necessary (in fact, it may be detrimental), $prop->Address already contains the exact same array. Recreating the array like this completely removes the ability to tell which value goes to which key, which could be problematic.
This means that you can simplify your entire code by replacing it with this:
echo http_build_query($prop->Address);
Which outputs something like this:
Number=12345&Street=Example+Street+Address&Town=Example+Town&Postcode=Example+Postcode