How to remove duplicate values from DOM output? - php

Question

I have implemented a simple code around HTML DOM script. The output I am receiving has many duplicate values. How to remove these values? I tried array_unique, but it doesn't work. Any pointers?
Below is the code;
$path = 'https://www.example.com';
$html = new simple_html_dom();
$url = $html->load_file($path);
if (!empty($url))
$html->load_file($url);
$result = array();
$result1 = array_unique($result);
foreach($html->find('a') as $a){
$href = $a->href;
if (strpos($href, '://')==false)
{
$result1[] = $href;
echo $href;
echo'<br />';
}
}

Answer 1

Two problems.
1. You are using array_unique too early.
2. You are echo-ing all matches. (While also adding them to an unused array.)
Here's the relevant part of your code, fixed:
$result = array();
// THIS WILL ONLY FILTER AN EMPTY ARRAY == DO NOTHING:
// $result1 = array_unique($result);
foreach($html->find('a') as $a){
$href = $a->href;
// Assuming you want to match this; then use !== false
if (strpos($href, '://') !== false) {
$result[] = $href;
// If you output, you can't filter for unique values. Ditch this:
// echo $href;
// echo'<br />';
}
}
$result = array_unique($result);
var_dump($result);
Then, do whatever you wish with the unique values, including implode('<br>', $result); if your desired output is unique links separated by line breaks.