Split array into chunks using separator - php

Question

Hope everyone is doing well...
I am looking for something similar to array_chunk() but using an empty value as the separator?
I have -
Array
(
[0] => /some/path:
[1] => file.csv
[2] => file.dat
[3] =>
[4] => /some/other/path:
[5] => file.csv
[6] => file.csv.gz
[7] => file.dat
[8] =>
[9] => /some/other/other/path:
[10] => file.csv
[11] => file.dat
)
And would like to achieve -
Array
(
[0] => Array
(
[0] => /some/path:
[1] => file.csv
[2] => file.dat
)
[1] => Array
(
[0] => /some/other/path:
[1] => file.csv
[2] => file.csv.gz
[3] => file.dat
)
[2] => Array
(
[0] => /some/other/other/path:
[1] => file.csv
[2] => file.dat
)
)
Now I cant just chunk on every 3 as you can see some locations will have more than 1 file.
I can achieve via loop and counter but I figured there would be a cleaner method?
Thanks

Answer 1

Best way I can think of is this loop which I think is pretty clean:
/**
* #param array $inputArr The array you wish to split.
* #param string $splitStr The string you wish to split by.
*
* #return array
*/
function split_arrays($inputArr, $splitStr) {
$outputArr = array();
$i = 0;
foreach ($inputArr as $data) {
if ($data == $splitStr) {
$i++;
continue;
}
$outputArr[$i][] = $data;
}
return $outputArr;
}
The other way I thought of also uses loops but is not as clean. It searches for the index of the next split string and breaks off that chunk.
/**
* #param array $inputArr The array you wish to split.
* #param string $splitStr The string you wish to split by.
*
* #return array
*/
function split_arrays2($inputArr,$splitStr) {
$outputArr = array(); $i=0;
while(count($inputArr)) {
$index = array_search($splitStr,$inputArr)
if($index === false) $index = count($inputArr);
$outputArr[$i++] = array_slice($inputArr,0,$index);
$inputArr = array_slice($inputArr,$index+1);
}
return $outputArr;
}
If and only if you are using a string for the split string which is not ever going to show up inside the middle of the other strings (space may or may not be the case for this) then I agree with the others that implode and explode are much simpler. In your case:
/**
* #param array $inputArr The array you wish to split.
* #param string $splitStr The string you wish to split by.
*
* #return array
*/
function split_arrays3($inputArr,$splitStr) {
$outputArr = array(); $i=0;
$str = implode("|",$inputArr);
$arr = explode("|$splitStr|");
foreach($arr as $i=>$string)
$outputArr[$i] = explode("|",$string);
return $outputArr;
}

Answer 2

$res = array();
foreach(explode("\n\n", implode("\n", $arr)) as $k => $v) {
$res[$k] = explode("\n", $v);
}
$res will contains the array you want.

Answer 3

Do you have two characters that will not occur in the array string for sure?
If so, suppose they are # and ;
We'll use combination of implode and explode
Then:
$arrstring = implode(';',$old_array); // Split via ; spearators
$arrstring = str_replace(';;','#',$arrstring); // If two ;; then mark end of array as #
$new_pre_array = explode('#',$arrstring); // Outer array
// Inner array
foreach($new_pre_array as $key => $entry) {
$temp_sub_array = explode(';',$entry);
$new_pre_array[$key] = $temp_sub_array;
}
return $new_pre_array;
Reference:
http://php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php
http://php.net/manual/en/function.implode.php

Answer 4

$chunked = chunkArray($your_array);
function chunkArray($array){
$return = array();
$index = 0;
foreach($array as $ar){
if($ar == "" or $ar == null){
$index++;
}
else{
$return[$index][] = $ar;
}
}
return $return;
}

Answer 5

I was opting to first locate at which places the array $array has to be splitted:
$splitAt = array_keys($array, '', TRUE);
This actually is the most magic. The array_splice function then can be used to get the chunks from the input array, only a temporary variable, I named it $last:
$last = 0;
is used to keep track because the length is not the position. Those $splitAt are then used to be inserted into the
$result = array();
$result array:
foreach($splitAt as $pos) {
$result[] = array_splice($array, 0, $pos - $last);
unset($array[0]);
$last += $pos + 1;
}
The leftover chunk from the array is then added as last element:
$result[] = $array;
And that's it. The full Example (Demo):
/**
* explode array by delimiter
*
* #param mixed $delimiter
* #param array $array
* #return array
*/
function array_explode($delimiter, array $array)
{
$splitAt = array_keys($array, $delimiter, TRUE);
$last = 0;
$result = array();
foreach ($splitAt as $pos) {
$result[] = array_splice($array, 0, $pos - $last);
$array && unset($array[0]);
$last += $pos + 1;
}
$result[] = $array;
return $result;
}
# Usage:
var_dump(array_explode('', $array));
I named the function array_explode because it works like explode on strings but for arrays.
The second option I see (and which might be preferrable) is to loop over the array and process it according to it's value: Either add to the current element or add the current to it:
/**
* explode array by delimiter
*
* #param mixed $delimiter
* #param array $array
* #return array
*/
function array_explode($delimiter, array $array)
{
$result[] = &$current;
foreach($array as $value) {
if ($value === $delimiter) {
unset($current);
$result[] = &$current;
continue;
}
$current[] = $value;
}
return $result;
}