How do I distribute values of an array in three columns? - php

Question

I need this output..
1 3 5
2 4 6
I want to use array function like array(1,2,3,4,5,6). If I edit this array like array(1,2,3), it means the output need to show like
1 2 3
The concept is maximum 3 column only. If we give array(1,2,3,4,5), it means the output should be
1 3 5
2 4
Suppose we will give array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9), then it means output is
1 4 7
2 5 8
3 6 9
that is, maximum 3 column only. Depends upon the the given input, the rows will be created with 3 columns.
Is this possible with PHP? I am doing small Research & Development in array functions. I think this is possible. Will you help me?
For more info:
* input: array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14)
* output:
1 6 11
2 7 12
3 8 13
4 9 14
5 10

Answer 1

You can do a loop that will automatically insert a new line on each three elements:
$values = array(1,1,1,1,1);
foreach($values as $i => $value) {
printf('%-4d', $value);
if($i % 3 === 2) echo "\n";
}
EDIT: Since you added more information, here's what you want:
$values = array(1,2,3,4,5);
for($line = 0; $line < 2; $line++) {
if($line !== 0) echo "\n";
for($i = $line; $i < count($values); $i+=2) {
printf('%-4d', $values[$i]);
}
}
And if you want to bundle all that in a function:
function print_values_table($array, $lines = 3, $format = "%-4d") {
$values = array_values($array);
$count = count($values);
for($line = 0; $line < $lines; $line++) {
if($line !== 0) echo "\n";
for($i = $line; $i < $count; $i += $lines) {
printf($format, $values[$i]);
}
}
}
EDIT 2: Here is a modified version which will limit the numbers of columns to 3.
function print_values_table($array, $maxCols = 3, $format = "%-4d") {
$values = array_values($array);
$count = count($values);
$lines = ceil($count / $maxCols);
for($line = 0; $line < $lines; $line++) {
if($line !== 0) echo "\n";
for($i = $line; $i < $count; $i += $lines) {
printf($format, $values[$i]);
}
}
}
So, the following:
$values = range(1,25);
print_array_table($values);
Will output this:
1 10 19
2 11 20
3 12 21
4 13 22
5 14 23
6 15 24
7 16 25
8 17
9 18

Answer 2

One solution is to cut the array into chunks, representing the columns, and then print the values in row order:
$cols = array_chunk($arr, ceil(count($arr)/3));
for ($i=0, $n=count($cols[0]); $i<$n; $i++) {
echo $cols[0][$i];
if (isset($cols[1][$i])) echo $cols[1][$i];
if (isset($cols[2][$i])) echo $cols[2][$i];
}
If you don’t want to split your array, you can also do it directly:
for ($c=0, $n=count($arr), $m=ceil($n/3); $c<$m; $c++) {
echo $arr[$c];
for ($r=$m; $r<$n; $r+=$m) {
echo $arr[$c+$r];
}
}

Answer 3

$a = array(1,2,3,4,5);
"{$a[0]} {$a[1]} {$a[2]}\n{$a[3]} {$a[4]}";
or
$a = array(1,2,3,4,5);
"{$a[0]} {$a[1]} {$a[2]}".PHP_EOL."{$a[3]} {$a[4]}";
or
$a = array(1,2,3,4,5);
$second_row_start = 3; // change to vary length of rows
foreach( $a as $index => $value) {
if($index == $second_row_start) echo PHP_EOL;
echo "$value ";
}
or, perhaps if you want a longer array split into columns of 3?
$a = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13);
$row_length = 3; // change to vary length of rows
foreach( $a as $index => $value) {
if($index%$row_length == 0) echo PHP_EOL;
echo "$value ";
}
which gives
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
13

Answer 4

one solution is :
your array has N elements, and you want 3 columns, so you can get the value of each cell with $myarray[ column_index + (N/3) + line_index ] (with one or two loops for columns and lines, at least for lines)
I hope this will help you
Bye

Answer 5

Here's something I whipped up. I'm pretty sure this could be more easily accomplished if you were using HTML lists, I've assumed you can't use them.
$arr = array(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14, 15, 16);
$max = count($arr);
$cols = 3;
$block = ceil($max / $cols);
for ($i = 0; $i < $block ; $i++) {
echo $arr[$i] . ' ';
for ($j = 1; $j < $cols; $j++) {
$nexKey = $i + $block * $j;
if (!isset($arr[$nexKey])) break;
echo $arr[$nexKey] . ' ';
}
echo '<br>';
}
NOTE : You can easily refactor the code inside the loop that uses $nexkey variable by making it into a loop itself so that it works for any number of columns. I've hardcoded it.
Uses loops now.