Create Arrays From Numbered List From a String - php

Question

I have a plain string like this:
1 //here is a number defines phrase name
09/25/2013 //here is a date
<i>some text goes here</i> //and goes text
2
09/24/2013
text goes on and on
4 //as you can see, the numbers can skip another
09/23/2013
heya i'm a text
I need to create array from this but the numbers that defines phrases must give me the date of that line and return the text when i called it. Like,
$line[4][date] should give me "09/23/2013"
Is that possible, if possible can you explain me how to do this?

Answer 1

$stringExample = "1
09/25/2013
<i>some text goes here</i>
2
09/24/2013
text goes on and on
and on and on
4
09/23/2013
heya i'm a text";
$data = explode("\r\n\r\n", $stringExample);
$line = array();
foreach ($data as $block) {
list($id, $date, $text) = explode("\n", $block, 3);
$index = (int) $id;
$line[$index] = array();
$line[$index]["date"] = trim($date);
$line[$index]["text"] = trim($text);
}
var_dump($line) should output:
array(3) {
[1]=>
array(2) {
["date"]=>
string(10) "09/25/2013"
["text"]=>
string(26) "<i>some text goes here</i>"
}
[2]=>
array(2) {
["date"]=>
string(10) "09/24/2013"
["text"]=>
string(34) "text goes on and on
and on and on"
}
[4]=>
array(2) {
["date"]=>
string(10) "09/23/2013"
["text"]=>
string(15) "heya i'm a text"
}
}
You can test it here.

Answer 2

If the structure of the file is a coerent pattern of rows, with PHP you read each line and each 1st you have the number, each 2nd you have the date, each 3rd you have the text, each 4th you have empty, you reset the counter to 1 and go on like that, and put values in arrays, using even an external index, or the 1st line (number) as index.

Answer 3

try this:
EDIT: should now work for multi line text.
//convert the string into an array at newline.
$str_array = explode("\n", $str);
//remove empty lines.
foreach ($str_array as $key => $val) {
if ($val == "") {
unset($str_array[$key]);
}
}
$str_array = array_values($str_array);
$parsed_array = array();
$count = count($str_array);
$in_block = false;
$block_num = 0;
$date_pattern = "%[\d]{2}/[\d]{2}/[\d]{2,4}%";
for ($i = 0; $i < $count; $i++) {
//start the block at first numeric value.
if (isset($str_array[$i])
&& is_numeric(trim($str_array[$i]))) {
// make sure it's followed by a date value
if (isset($str_array[$i + 1])
&& preg_match($date_pattern, trim($str_array[$i + 1]))) {
//number, followed by date, block confirmed.
$in_block = true;
$block_num = $i;
$parsed_array[$str_array[$i]]["date"] = $str_array[$i + 1];
$parsed_array[$str_array[$i]]['text'] = "";
$i = $i + 2;
}
}
//once a block has been found, everything that
//is not "number followed by date" will be appended to the current block's text.
if ($in_block && isset($str_array[$i])) {
$parsed_array[$str_array[$block_num]]['text'].=$str_array[$i] . "\n";
}
}
var_dump($parsed_array);