combine strings into an array in php - php

Question

I have a web service to identify people and their functions from an external database that returns me a set of data if the login is successful. The data (that interests me right now) is separated in different strings as follow:
$groups="group1, group2, group3"
$functions="member, member, admin"
The first element of the string $groups corresponds to the first element of the $functions string.
We can have empty spots in the strings:
$groups="group1,, group3";
$functions="member,, admin";
What is the best way to combine them to obtain:
$usertype(
group1=>member,
group2=>member,
group3=>admin,
);
Then I plan to use array_search() to get the name of the group that corresponds to a function.

Answer 1

This is very trick especially when the first element is empty but here is a comprehensive solution
What you need is :
// Your Varriables
$groups = "group1,, group3";
$functions = "member,, admin";
// Break Into Array
$groups = explode(",", $groups);
$functions = explode(",", $functions);
// Combine both new Arrays and Output Result
$new = array_combine($groups, $functions);
print_r($new);
If you need to fix null values then :
Example :
// Your Varriables
$groups = "group1,, group3";
$functions = "member,, admin";
// Break Into Array
$groups = explode(",", $groups);
$functions = explode(",", $functions);
// Fix Null Values
$groups = fixNull($groups, true);
$functions = fixNull($functions);
// Combine both new Arrays and Output Result
$new = array_combine($groups, $functions);
print_r($new);
Output
Array
(
[group1] => member
[group2] => member
[group3] => admin
)
See Live DEMO
More Complex:
// Your Varriables
$groups = ",,, group3";
$functions = ",member,, admin";
// Fix Null Values
$groups = fixNull(explode(",", $groups), true);
$functions = fixNull(explode(",", $functions));
// Combine both new Arrays and Output Result
$new = array_combine($groups, $functions);
print_r($new);
Output
Array
(
[group4] => member
[group5] => member
[group6] => member
[group3] => admin
)
Live DEMO
Function Used
function fixNull($array, $inc = false) {
$ci = new CachingIterator(new ArrayIterator($array), CachingIterator::FULL_CACHE);
if ($inc) {
$next = array_filter($array);
$next = current($next);
$next ++;
} else {
$next = array_filter($array);
sort($next);
$next = end($next);
}
$next || $next = null;
$modified = array();
foreach($ci as $item) {
$modified[] = empty($item) ? trim($next) : trim($item);
if (! $ci->getInnerIterator()->current()) {
$item || $item = $next;
$next = $inc ? ++ $item : $item;
}
}
return $modified;
}

Answer 2

$groups = explode(",", $groups);
$functions = explode(",", $functions);
//then use the elements of the $groups array as key and the elements of the $functions array as the value
$merged = array_combine($groups, $functions);

Answer 3

Something along the lines of this should help:
$usertype = array_combine(explode(',', $groups), explode(',', $functions));

Answer 4

Use explode() to make arrays of your strings, and array_combine() to use one array as keys, the other one as values.
$groups = "group1, group2, group3";
$functions = "member, member, admin";
$usertype = array_combine(explode(", ", $groups), explode(", ", $functions));

Answer 5

Have you tried a explode($delimiter , $string) and then filter the array? I think that would be a good way of doing it:
$groups="group1,, group3";
$functions="member,, admin";
$groups_array = array_map('trim',explode(',', $groups));
$functions_array = array_map('trim',explode(',', $functions));
$final = array();
for ($i = 0; $i <= count($groups_array); $i++) {
$final[$groups_array[$i]] = $functions_array[$i];
}
$merged = array_combine($groups_array, $functions_array);
Demo

Answer 6

$groups="group1, group2, group3"
$functions="member, member, admin"
preg_match_all('/\w+/', $groups, $groups);
preg_match_all('/\d+/', $functions, $functions);
$final = array();
foreach ($groups[0] AS $key => $letter)
$final[] = $letter . '=>' . $functions[0][$key];
echo join(', ', $final);

Answer 7

explode and array_combine.
Note that you have a problem with whitespaces. Therefore use the following:
<?php
$groups="group1, group2, group3";
$functions="member, member, admin";
$groupArray = array_map(function($element){return trim($element);},
explode(',',$groups)); // split into array and remove leading and ending whitespaces
$functionArray = array_map(function($element){return trim($element);},
explode(',',$functions)); // split into array and remove leading and ending whitespaces
print_r(array_combine($groupArray,$functionArray));
?>
This will output:
Array
(
[group1] => member
[group2] => member
[group3] => admin
)
EDIT: removed trim for the possibility that the first element is empty.