Check / match string against partial strings in array - php

Question

I am trying to match a full UK postcode against a partial postcode.
Take a users postcode, i.e g22 1pf, and see if there's a match / partial match in the array / database.
//Sample data
$postcode_to_check= 'g401pf';
//$postcode_to_check= 'g651qr';
//$postcode_to_check= 'g51rq';
//$postcode_to_check= 'g659rs';
//$postcode_to_check= 'g40';
$postcodes = array('g657','g658','g659','g659pf','g40','g5');
$counter=0;
foreach($postcodes as $postcode){
$postcode_data[] = array('id' =>$counter++ , 'postcode' => $postcode, 'charge' => '20.00');
}
I do have some code but that was just comparing the strings with fixed lengths from the database. I need the strings in the array / database to be dynamic in length.
The database may contain "g22" this would be a match, it could also contain more or less of the postcode, i.e "g221" or "g221p" which would also be a match. It could contain "g221q" or "g221qr" these would not match.
Help Appreciated, Thank you
edit.
I was possibly overthinking this. the following pseudo code seems to function as expected.
check_delivery('g401pf');
//this would match because g40 is in the database.
check_delivery('g651dt');
// g651dt this would NOT match because g651dt is not in the database.
check_delivery('g524pq');
//g524pq this would match because g5 is in the database.
check_delivery('g659pf');
//g659pf this would match because g659 is in the database.
check_delivery('g655pf');
//g655pf this would not match, g665 is not in the database
//expected output, 3 matches
function check_delivery($postcode_to_check){
$postcodes = array('g657','g658','g659','g659pf','g40','g5');
$counter=0;
foreach($postcodes as $postcode){
$stripped_postcode = substr($postcode_to_check,0, strlen($postcode));
if($postcode==$stripped_postcode){
echo "Matched<br><br>";
break;
}
}
}

Answer 1

<?php
$postcode_to_check= 'g401pf';
$arr = preg_split("/\d+/",$postcode_to_check,-1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
preg_match_all('/\d+/', $postcode_to_check, $postcode);
$out = implode("",array_map(function($postcode) {return implode("",$postcode);},$postcode));
$first_char = mb_substr($arr[1], 0, 1);
$MatchingPostcode=$arr[0].''.$out.''.$first_char;
echo $MatchingPostcode;
SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE column_name LIKE '%$MatchingPostcode%';
It's a dirty solution but it will solve your problem. Things like this should be handled in front-end or in the DB but if you must do it in php then this is a solution.
So this code will match you anything that includes g401p. If you don't want to match in the start of the end just remove % from which part you don't want to match. In my the case i provide you it will search for every column record that has g401p

Answer 2

Check the length and strip the one you want to compare it with to the same length.
function check_delivery($postcode_to_check){
$postcodes = array('g657','g658','g659','g659pf','g40','g5');
$counter=0;
foreach($postcodes as $postcode){
$stripped_postcode = substr($postcode_to_check,0, strlen($postcode));
if($postcode==$stripped_postcode){
echo "Matched<br><br>";
break;
}
}
}