php while inside for loop, using strlen - php

Question

The following is a code block that's working fine as regards getting the data I want.
Don't laugh, it's probably inefficient, but I'm learning :)
What I want, is to use the $totalLength variable, to stop gathering data when the $totalLength is, say 1500 bytes/characters (ideally, ending on a full word, but I'm not looking for miracles!). Anyway, the code:
$paraLength = 0;
$totalLength = 0;
for ($k = 0; $k < $descriptionValue->length; $k++) { //define integer k as 0, get every description using ($k = 0; $k < $descriptionValue->length; $k++), increment the k loop (to get only 14 elements, use ($k <= 13))
$totalLength = $totalLength + $paraLength;
echo $totalLength." Total<br />";
$descNode = $descriptionValue->item($k)->nodeValue; //find each description element
$descNode = trim($descNode); //trim any whitespace around the element
$descPara = strip_tags($descNode); //remove any HTML tags from the elements
$paraLength = (strlen($descPara)); //find the length of each element
//if (preg_match('/^([0-9 ]+)$/', $descPara)) { //if element starts with numbers followed by a space, define it as a telephone number
// $number = $descPara;
// fwrite ($fh, "\t\t".'<div id="tel">'.$number."</div>\n"); //write a div with id tel, containing the number
//}
//else
if (preg_match('/[A-Z]{4,}/', $descPara)) { //if element starts with at least 4 uppercase characters, define it as a heading
$heading = $descPara;
$heading=ucfirst(strtolower($heading)); //convert the uppercase string to proper
fwrite ($fh, "\t\t".'<div id="heading"><h4>'.$heading."</h4></div>\n"); //write a div with id heading, containing the heading in h4 tags
}
else if (preg_match('/\d*\.\d{1,}[m x]/', $descPara)) { //if the element contains any number of digits followed by a dot, at least one further digit and the letters m x, define it as a heading based on it containing room measurements (this pattern matches at least two number after the dot \d*{2,}}
$room = $descPara;
fwrite ($fh, "\t\t".'<div id="roomheading"><h4>'.$room."</h4></div>\n"); //write a div with id roomheading, containing the heading in h4 tags
}
else if (preg_match('/^Disclaimer/i', $descPara)) { //if the element contains the word Disclaimer, define it as such
$disclaimer = $descPara;
fwrite ($fh, "\t\t".'<div id="disclaimer"><h4>'.$disclaimer."</h4></div>\n"); //write a div with id disclaimer, containing the heading in h4 tags
}
else if (strlen($paraLength<14 && $paraLength>3)) { //when all else fails, if the element is less than 14 but more than 3 characters, also define it as a heading
$other = $descPara;
fwrite ($fh, "\t\t".'<div id="other"><h4>'.$other."</h4></div>\n"); //write a div with id other and the heading in h4 tags
}
else {
fwrite ($fh, "\t\t\t<p>".$descPara."</p>\n"); //anything else is considered content, so write it out inside p tags
}
}
$totalLength counts nicely, but when I tried to put a while statement in there, it just hung. I tried putting the while statement before and after the for, but no joy. What am I doing wrong and how best to solve this one?
FYI $descriptionValue, is data parsed from HTML using DOM & xpath, the while I tried was while($totalLength <= 1500)

Answer 1

Maybe this is what You want:
if ($totalLength > 1500) {
break;
}

Answer 2

Just put a condition inside your for loop. It will jump outside the loop as soon as the condition evaluates to true.
// for () { ...
if ($totalLength > 1500) {
break;
}
// }
Basically, break ends execution of the current for, foreach, while, do-while or switch structure. You can find more about PHP's control structures in the manual.

Answer 3

You can also delete the for and add
$k = 0;
while ($totalLength <= 1500 || $k < $descriptionValue->length)
and inside the loop you increment the value ok $k