PHP array_key_exists key LIKE string, is it possible? - php

Question

I've done a bunch of searching but can't figure this one out.
I have an array like this:
$array = array(cat => 0, dog => 1);
I have a string like this:
I like cats.
I want to see if the string matches any keys in the array. I try the following but obviously it doesn't work.
array_key_exists("I like cats", $array)
Assuming that I can get any random string at a given time, how can I do something like this?
Pseudo code:
array_key_exists("I like cats", *.$array.*)
//The value for cat is "0"
Note that I want to check if "cat" in any form exists. It can be cats, cathy, even random letter like vbncatnm. I am getting the array from a mysql database and I need to know which ID cat or dog is.

Answer 1

You can use a regex on keys. So, if any words of your string equal to the key, $found is true. You can save the $key in the variable if you want. preg_match function allows to test a regular expression.
$keys = array_keys($array);
$found = false;
foreach ($keys as $key) {
//If the key is found in your string, set $found to true
if (preg_match("/".$key."/", "I like cats")) {
$found = true;
}
}
EDIT :
As said in comment, strpos could be better! So using the same code, you can just replace preg_match:
$keys = array_keys($array);
$found = false;
foreach ($keys as $key) {
//If the key is found in your string, set $found to true
if (false !== strpos("I like cats", $key)) {
$found = true;
}
}

Answer 2

This should help you achieve what you're trying to do:
$array = array('cat' => 10, 'dog' => 1);
$findThis = 'I like cats';
$filteredArray = array_filter($array, function($key) use($string){
return strpos($string, $key) !== false;
}, ARRAY_FILTER_USE_KEY);
I find that using the array_filter function with a closure/anonymous function to be a much more elegant way than a foreach loop because it maintains one level of indentation.

Answer 3

You could do using a preg_match with the value not in array but in search criteria
if(preg_match('~(cat|dog)~', "I like cats")) {
echo 'ok';
}
or
$criteria = '~(cat|dog)~';
if (preg_match($criteria, "I like cats")) {
echo 'ok';
}
Otherwise you could use a foreach on your array
foreach($array as $key => $value ) {
$pos = strpos("I like cats", $key);
if ($pos > 0) {
echo $key . ' '. $value;
}
}