PHP - group every 2 parts of a string together in an array - php

Question

I have a long string that is constructed like this:
randomstring number randomstring number randomstring number
I need to group these random strings and numbers together so that I get an array like this:
array = [[randomstring, number], [[randomstring, number], [randomstring, number]]
I don't know the amount of spaces between the strings and numbers. Any suggestions?
UPDATE
Since Edwin Moller's answer I'm now left with this array:
Array (46) {
[0] =>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(20) "string"
[1]=>
string(7) "number"
}
[1]=>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(5) ""
[1]=>
string(7) ""
}
[2] =>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(10) ""
[1]=>
string(11) ""
}
[3] =>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(10) ""
[1]=>
string(11) ""
}
[4] =>
array(2) {
[0]=>
string(10) ""
[1]=>
string(11) ""
}
The array elements that have 2 empty elements themselves need to be removed.
I'll leave it with this solution. It's not elegant at all, but I don't know what these 'empty' strings are. It doesn't respond to whitespace, space, any character test so I used the strlen() function:
$str = preg_replace('!\s+!', ' ', $longstring);
$parts = explode(" ", $str);
$nr = count($parts);
for ($i = 0; $i < $nr; $i = $i + 2) {
if(strlen($parts[$i]) > 20) { // ugly, but it works for now..
$tmp[] = [$parts[$i], $parts[$i + 1]];
}
}
// unsetting these elements because they are longer than 30
unset($tmp[0]);
unset($tmp[1]);
unset($tmp[2]);

Answer 1

$longstring = "randomstring1 1001 randomstring2 205 randomstring3 58";
// First, take care of the multiple spaces.
$str = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $longstring);
// split in parts on space
$parts = explode(" ",$str);
$nr = count($parts);
$tmp = array();
for ($i=0; $i<$nr; $i=$i+2){
$tmp[] = array($parts[$i], $parts[$i+1]);
}
echo "<pre>";
print_r($tmp);
echo "</pre>";
You might want to make sure it is an even number. (check $nr).
Edit: OP says you have some empty elements in the array $parts.
I don't know what causes that, possibly some encoding issues, not sure without having the original material (string).
A wild guess: Try to utf8_decode the original string, then do the preg_replace, and then print_r.
Like this:
$longstring = "randomstring1 1001 randomstring2 205 randomstring3 58";
$longstring = utf8_decode($longstring);
$str = preg_replace('/\s+/', ' ', $longstring);
$parts = explode(" ",$str);
echo "<pre>";
print_r($parts);
echo "</pre>";

Answer 2

explode string and then check it like this
Online Demo
$str="randomstring number randomstring number randomstring number";
$exp=explode(" ",$str);
for($i=0;$i<count($exp);$i++)
{
if(trim($exp[$i])=="")
continue;
$result[]=array(0=>$exp[$i],1=>$exp[$i+1]);
$i++;
}
var_dump($result);

Answer 3

Try the following
//Our string
$string = "randomstring 11 randomstring 22 randomstring 33";
//Split them up if they have MORE THAN ONE space
$firstSplit = preg_split('/\s\s+/', $string);
//Set up a new array to contain them
$newArray = array();
//For each of the ones like "randomstring 11"
foreach($firstSplit as $key => $split){
//Split them if they have ONE OR MORE space
$secondSplit = preg_split('/\s+/', $split);
//Add them to the array
//Note: change this part to structure the array however you'd like
$newArray[$key]["string"] = $secondSplit[0];
$newArray[$key]["integer"] = $secondSplit[1];
}
The comments should explain well enough what is happening here, it will leave you with the following:
array (size=3)
0 =>
array (size=2)
'string' => string 'randomstring' (length=12)
'integer' => string '11' (length=2)
1 =>
array (size=2)
'string' => string 'randomstring' (length=12)
'integer' => string '22' (length=2)
2 =>
array (size=2)
'string' => string 'randomstring' (length=12)
'integer' => string '33' (length=2)

Answer 4

I do not know if it is the shortest way but i would say your issue can be consist of this steps
1- convert the multi spaces to one space
2- explode the big string to one array has all the sub string
3- group the elements by loop over the big array
<?php
$str = 'randomstring1 number1 randomstring2 number2 randomstring3 number3';
//remove the spaces and put all the element in one array
$arr = explode(' ', $str);
$space = array('');
$arr = array_values(array_diff($arr, $space));
//now loop over the array and group elements
$result = $temArr = array();
foreach($arr as $index => $element){
if($index % 2){//second element (number)
$temArr[] = $element;
$result[] = $temArr;
$temArr = array();
}else{//first element (randomstring)
$temArr[] = $element;
}
}
//print the result
var_dump($result);die;
?>

Answer 5

First split by 2 or more spaces, then split those groups by the single space.
Try this:
$input = 'randomstring1 number1 randomstring2 number2 randomstring3 number3';
$groups = preg_split("/[\s]{2,}/", $input );
$result = array_map(function($i){
return explode(' ', $i);
}, $groups);
Which gets me this result:
array(3) {
[0] = array(2) {
[0] = string(13) "randomstring1"
[1] = string(7) "number1"
}
[1] = array(2) {
[0] = string(13) "randomstring2"
[1] = string(7) "number2"
}
[2] = array(2) {
[0] = string(13) "randomstring3"
[1] = string(7) "number3"
}
}