PHP Associative array strange behavior - php

Question

I am using an associative array which I initialized like this:
$img_captions = array();
Then, later in the code I am filling it in a while loop with keys and values coming in from a .txt file (every line in that .txt file contains a pair - a string - separated by '|') looking like this:
f1.jpg|This is a caption for this specific file
f2.jpg|Yea, also this one
f3.jpg|And this too for sure
...
I am filling the associative array with those data like this:
if (file_exists($currentdir ."/captions.txt"))
{
$file_handle = fopen($currentdir ."/captions.txt", "rb");
while (!feof($file_handle) )
{
$line_of_text = fgets($file_handle);
$parts = explode('/n', $line_of_text);
foreach($parts as $img_capts)
{
list($img_filename, $img_caption) = explode('|', $img_capts);
$img_captions[$img_filename] = $img_caption;
}
}
fclose($file_handle);
}
When I test that associative array if it actually contains keys and values like:
print_r(array_keys($img_captions));
print_r(array_values($img_captions));
...I see it contains them as expected, BUT when I try to actually use them with direct calling like, let's say for instance:
echo $img_captions['f1.jpg'];
I get PHP error saying:
Notice: Undefined index: f1.jpg in...
I am clueless what is going on here - can anyone tell, please?
BTW I am using USBWebserver with PHP 5.3.
UPDATE 1: so by better exploring the output of the 'print_r(array_keys($img_captions));' inside Chrome (F12 key) I noticed something strange - THE FIRST LINE OF '[0] => f1.jpg' LOOKS VISUALLY VERY WEIRD tho it looks normal when displayed as print_r() output on the site, I noticed it actually in fact is coded like this in webpage source (F12):
Array
(
[0] => f1.jpg
[1] => f2.jpg
[2] => f3.jpg
[3] => f4.jpg
[4] => f5.jpg
[5] => f6.jpg
[6] => f7.jpg
[7] => f8.jpg
[8] => f9.jpg
[9] => f10.jpg
)
So when I tested anything else than the 1. line it works OK. I tryed to delete completely the file and re-write it once again but still the same occurs...
DISCLAIMER Guys, just to clarify things more properly: THIS IS NOT MY ORIGINAL CODE (that is 'done completely by me'), it is
actually a MiniGal Nano PHP photogalery I had just make to suit my
needs but those specific parts we are talking about are FROM THE
ORIGINAL AUTHOR

Answer 1

I will recommend you to use file() along wth trim().
Your code becomes short, readable and easy to understand.
$parts= file('your text file url', FILE_IGNORE_NEW_LINES | FILE_SKIP_EMPTY_LINES);
$img_captions = [];
foreach($parts as $img_capts){
list($img_filename, $img_caption) = explode('|', $img_capts);
$img_captions[trim(preg_replace("/&#?[a-z0-9]+;/i","",$img_filename))] = trim(preg_replace("/&#?[a-z0-9]+;/i","",$img_caption));
}
print_r($img_captions);

Answer 2

So after a while I realize there is something wrong with my .txt file itself as it:-
ALWAYS PUT SOME STRANGE SIGNS IN FRONT OF THE 1st LINE WHATEVER I DO IT WAS ALWAYS THERE EVEN WITH THE NEW FILE CREATED FROM SCRATCH (although those are UNVISIBLE unless seen as a source code on a webpage!!!)
So I decided to test it in another format, this time .log file and all of a sudden everything works just fine.
I do not know if it is just my local problem of some sort (most probably is) or something else I am not aware of.
But my solution to this was changing the file type holding the string pairs (.txt => .log) which solved this 'problem' for me.
Some other possible solution to this as #AbraCadaver said:
(Those strange signs: [0] => f1.jpg) That's the HTML entity for a BYTE ORDER MARK or BOM, save your file
with no BOM in whatever editor you're using.