PHP script adding a space in between every character - php

Question

I have a little problem with a script I wrote.
It basically combines permutations of text in every possible order.
For some reason it is adding a space in between every character - can anyone figure out why?
Thanks in advance.
<?php
if(isset($_POST['submit']))
{
//pull in the perms
$perms = "{#A#B#C|#A#B#D|#A#B#E|#A#B#F|#A#C#D|#A#C#E|#A#C#F|#A#D#E|#A#D#F|#A#E#F|#B#C#D|#B#C#E|#B#C#F|#B#D#E|#B#D#F|#B#E#F|#C#D#E|#C#D#F|#C#E#F|#D#E#F}";
//open the box's
$box1= fopen("box1.txt","r");
$box2= fopen("box2.txt","r");
$box3= fopen("box3.txt","r");
$box4= fopen("box4.txt","r");
$box5= fopen("box5.txt","r");
$box6= fopen("box6.txt","r");
//this is the output
$tulis = fopen("output.txt","w+");
//read the box's
$box1 = fread($box1, filesize("box1.txt"));
$box2 = fread($box2, filesize("box2.txt"));
$box3 = fread($box3, filesize("box3.txt"));
$box4 = fread($box4, filesize("box4.txt"));
$box5 = fread($box5, filesize("box5.txt"));
$box6 = fread($box6, filesize("box6.txt"));
$perms = str_replace("#A","$box1",$perms);
$perms = str_replace("#B","$box2",$perms);
$perms = str_replace("#C","$box3",$perms);
$perms = str_replace("#D","$box4",$perms);
$perms = str_replace("#E","$box5",$perms);
$perms = str_replace("#F","$box6",$perms);
echo $text;
fwrite($tulis,$perms);
//close them properly
$box1= fopen("box1.txt","r");
$box2= fopen("box2.txt","r");
$box3= fopen("box3.txt","r");
$box4= fopen("box4.txt","r");
$box5= fopen("box5.txt","r");
$box6= fopen("box6.txt","r");
fclose($box1);
fclose($box2);
fclose($box3);
fclose($box4);
fclose($box5);
fclose($box6);
fclose($tulis);
}
//this means that if the submit button hasn't been pressed, print the form!
else
{
print '
<form action="'.$_SERVER['PHP_SELF'].'" method="POST">
<input type="submit" name="submit"></input>
</form>
';
}
?>

Answer 1

Unless I am mistaking and I missed what you are trying to do, this script is doing pretty much like what you wrote, except that there are no str_replace and it creates permuations automatically for the number of files you provide (at least 3 for it to work properly) :
$files = array(
"box1.txt",
"box2.txt",
"box3.txt",
"box4.txt",
"box5.txt",
"box6.txt"
);
$contents = array();
foreach ($files as $index => $filename) {
$contents[$index] = trim(file_get_contents($filename), " \n\r");
}
$perms = array();
$len = count($contents);
for ($i=0; $i<$len-2; $i++) {
for ($j=$i+1; $j<$len-1; $j++) {
for ($k=$j+1; $k<$len; $k++) {
$perms[] = $contents[$i] . $contents[$j] . $contents[$k];
}
}
}
$text = '{' . implode('|', $perms) . '}';
file_put_contents('output.txt', $text);
Note that this version does not use fopen and trim the text read from the files to remove any whitespaces (CR and CL characters too) from the content.
** Edit **
This is the actual test program that I have made :
header('Content-type: text/plain; charset=utf-8');
$contents = array(
'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F'
);
// fixed embedded loops method
$perms = array();
$len = count($contents);
for ($i=0; $i<$len-2; $i++) {
for ($j=$i+1; $j<$len-1; $j++) {
for ($k=$j+1; $k<$len; $k++) {
$perms[] = $contents[$i] . $contents[$j] . $contents[$k];
}
}
}
$text = '{' . implode('|', $perms) . '}';
echo $text . "\n";
// Recursive method
function permutationRecursive( & $perms, $maxDepth, $contents = array(), $values = array(), $startIndex = 0) {
for ($i=$startIndex, $count=count($contents)-($maxDepth-1); $i<$count; $i++) {
array_push($values, $contents[$i]);
if ($maxDepth > 1) {
permutationRecursive( $perms, $maxDepth - 1, $contents, $values, $i + 1);
} else {
$perms[] = implode($values);
}
array_pop($values);
}
}
$perms = array();
permutationRecursive($perms, 3, $contents);
$text = '{' . implode('|', $perms) . '}';
echo $text . "\n";;
The output of this script is
{ABC|ABD|ABE|ABF|ACD|ACE|ACF|ADE|ADF|AEF|BCD|BCE|BCF|BDE|BDF|BEF|CDE|CDF|CEF|DEF}
{ABC|ABD|ABE|ABF|ACD|ACE|ACF|ADE|ADF|AEF|BCD|BCE|BCF|BDE|BDF|BEF|CDE|CDF|CEF|DEF}