PHP Check if array element exists in any part of the string - php

Question

I know how to find if your string equals an array value:
$colors = array("blue","red","white");
$string = "white";
if (!in_array($string, $colors)) {
echo 'not found';
}
...but how do I find if the string CONTAINS any part of the array values?
$colors = array("blue","red","white");
$string = "whitewash"; // I want this to be found in the array
if (!in_array($string, $colors)) {
echo 'not found';
}

Answer 1

Or in one shot:
if( preg_match("(".implode("|",array_map("preg_quote",$colors)).")",$string,$m)) {
echo "Found ".$m[0]."!";
}
This can also be expanded to only allow words that start with an item from your array:
if( preg_match("(\b(?:".implode("|",array_map("preg_quote",$colors))."))",$string,$m)) {
Or case-insensitive:
if( preg_match("(".implode("|",array_map("preg_quote",$colors)).")i",$string,$m)) {
CI with starting only:
if( preg_match("(\b(?:".implode("|",array_map("preg_quote",$colors))."))i",$string,$m)) {
Or anything really ;)

Answer 2

Just loop the array containing the values, and check if they are found in the input string, using strpos
$colors = array("blue","red","white");
$string = "whitewash"; // I want this to be found in the array
foreach ( $colors as $c ) {
if ( strpos ( $string , $c ) !== FALSE ) {
echo "found";
}
}
You can wrap it in a function:
function findString($array, $string) {
foreach ( $array as $a ) {
if ( strpos ( $string , $a ) !== FALSE )
return true;
}
return false;
}
var_dump( findString ( $colors , "whitewash" ) ); // TRUE

Answer 3

Try this working solution
$colors = array("blue", "red", "white");
$string = "whitewash";
foreach ($colors as $color) {
$pos = strpos($string, $color);
if ($pos === false) {
echo "The string '$string' not having substring '$color'.<br>";
} else {
echo "The string '$string' having substring '$color'.<br>";
}
}

Answer 4

There is no built-in function for that, but you could do something like:
$colors = array("blue","red","white");
$string = "whitewash"; // I want this to be found in the array
if (!preg_match('/\Q'.implode('\E|\Q',$colors).'\E/',$string)) {
echo 'not found';
}
This basically makes a regex from your array and matches the string against it. Good method, unless your array is really large.

Answer 5

You would have to iterate over each array element and individually check if it contains it (or a substr of it).
This is similar to what you want to do:
php check if string contains a value in array

Answer 6

$colors = array("blue","red","white");
$string = "whitewash"; // I want this to be found in the array
$hits = array();
foreach($colors as $color) {
if(strpos($string, $color) !== false) {
$hits[] = $color;
}
}
$hits will contain all $colors that have a match in $string.
if(empty($hits)) {
echo 'not found';
}