Cutting big string into objects - php

Question

I have a huge string from a server, and I want each line as an object (for later foreach loop).
This is part of the string:
1535;;34290;;teaserbanner_881.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
1535;;34291;;teaserbanner_8832.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
1379;;31912;;teaserbanner_844.jpg;;Allowed;;open;;;;open;;
1379;;31913;;teaserbanner_8422.jpg;;allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
The only thing that stays the same for each line is the "closing tags"
only two options:
;;closed;;;;closed;;
;;open;;;;open;;
I was thinking that it should be the needle for explode or some regex...
The final output should be:
element[0] 1535;;34290;;teaserbanner_881.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
element[1] 1535;;34291;;teaserbanner_8832.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
element[2] 1379;;31912;;teaserbanner_844.jpg;;Allowed;;open;;;;open;;
element[3] 1379;;31913;;teaserbanner_8422.jpg;;allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
The string doesn't come in "lines" it is one big line.

Answer 1

You can make use of preg_match_all function:
$s = <<< EOF
1535;;34290;;teaserbanner_881.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
1535;;34291;;teaserbanner_8832.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
1379;;31912;;teaserbanner_844.jpg;;Allowed;;open;;;;open;;
1379;;31913;;teaserbanner_8422.jpg;;allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
EOF;
if (preg_match_all('~(.*?;;(open|closed);{4}\2;;)~', $s, $arr))
print_r($arr[1]);
OUTPUT:
Array
(
[0] => 1535;;34290;;teaserbanner_881.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
[1] => 1535;;34291;;teaserbanner_8832.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
[2] => 1379;;31912;;teaserbanner_844.jpg;;Allowed;;open;;;;open;;
[3] => 1379;;31913;;teaserbanner_8422.jpg;;allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;
)

Answer 2

Please have a look at split. split("\n", $string) will give you an array, where each entry is one line of the string.

Answer 3

You can use file() for this:-
$lines = file('path/to/file');
foreach($lines as $line){
//do something with $line
}
$lines is an array with each element representing a line in the file so that
var_dump($lines);
Would give something like:-
array (size=4)
0 => string '1535;;34290;;teaserbanner_881.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;' (length=68)
1 => string '1535;;34291;;teaserbanner_8832.jpg;;Not allowed;;closed;;;;closed;; ' (length=69)
2 => string '1379;;31912;;teaserbanner_844.jpg;;Allowed;;open;;;;open;; ' (length=60)
3 => string '1379;;31913;;teaserbanner_8422.jpg;;allowed;;closed;;;;closed;;' length=63)

Answer 4

Try using preg_split:
$array = preg_split('/(?<=;;closed;;;;closed;;|;;open;;;;open;;)(?!$)/', $string)
(?<=;;closed;;;;closed;;|;;open;;;;open;;) makes sure there are the closing tags before the point of splitting and (?!$) makes sure the string isn't split at the end.
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Answer 5

What does huge mean?
exploding() something actually huge will deplete your PHP memory.
You need to parse it old school, char by char and add them to a bucket. When your condition is met (like the 5th ; or 10th ; or whatever...), consider the bucket a proper object and handle it. But don't store it. Push it to a file, a DB or something.
If things are not that huge, use a regular expression with an 'object' format. Like:
// keep duplicating the (.*?);; until you reach your number of columns.
preg_match_all '~(.*?);;(.*?);;(.*?);;(.*?);;(.*?);;~s' // pseudo-code :)
And this will break it all into objects and properties. Which you can iterate and use.