Find if a value exist in a CSV file with PHP - php

Question

This is my code to check if a row of my .csv file contains a specific name, but it does not work.
I think it has something to do with the if statement.
$file_handle = fopen("sources.csv", "r");
while (!feof($file_handle) ) {
$line_of_text = fgetcsv($file_handle, 1024);
if ($line_of_text[0] = 'paul') {
echo 'Found';
}
}
fclose($file_handle);
I am trying to check in sources.csv files, for the name 'Paul' .
I can't use a database like MySQL for technical reasons.

Answer 1

Since you haven't provided a sample of your file, am submitting the following as an alternative.
Do note that in your present code, you are assigning using a single equal sign = instead of comparing using == or ===, just saying as an FYI.
if ($line_of_text[0] = 'paul') should read as if ($line_of_text[0] == 'paul')
Assuming the following .csv format (will work even without the commas) and is case-sensitive, consult Footnotes regarding case-insensitive search.
Paul, Larry, Robert
Code:
<?php
$search = "Paul";
$lines = file('sources.csv');
$line_number = false;
while (list($key, $line) = each($lines) and !$line_number) {
$line_number = (strpos($line, $search) !== FALSE);
}
if($line_number){
echo "Results found for " .$search;
}
else{
echo "No results found for $search";
}
Footnotes:
For a case-insensitive search, use stripos()
$line_number = (stripos($line, $search) !== FALSE);
Row number found on...
To give you the row's number where it was found:
$line_number = (strpos($line, $search) !== FALSE) ? $count : $line_number;
or (case-insensitive)
$line_number = (stripos($line, $search) !== FALSE) ? $count : $line_number;
then just echo $line_number;

Answer 2

Your problem is this line:
if ($line_of_text[0] = 'paul') {
This will always be true because you are assigning the value paul to $line_of_text[0] with the assign operator =. What you want to do is check if the two are equal, so you need to use the equality operator, ==. The line of code should be:
if ($line_of_text[0] == 'paul') {
There is also the === equality operator in PHP which checks for the same value AND same type. (This is a particularly nasty feature of PHP when compared to compiled languages)
e.g. consider: `$foo = 5; $bar = "5";
if ($foo === $bar) // this will be false because foo is an int, and bar is a string
if ($foo == $bar) // this will be true
Don't be confused with the != comparison operator:
if ($foo != $bar) // foo is not equal to bar (note the single =)

Answer 3

Try using in_array instead of ==
if(in_array('paul', $line_of_text)) {
// FOUND
}