How to use a comma-delimited string in a shopping cart array

Question

I'm building a shopping cart php file that will query a database for products (and the quantity of each product a user adds to the shopping cart). But I'm having trouble understanding what to do with a "comma-delimited string". Here's the loop in my code so far:

//Loop through your cart array (foreach productID's quantity in cart):
     $_SESSION['numItems'] = $cart;//Update the number of items in your cart

     //Build a comma-delimited string in $prodIDStr containing the product
     //ID’s of the products currently in our cart array:
     $prodIDStr = "";//STACKOVERFLOW QUESTION


     if($_SESSION[numItems] = 0){//If cart it empty:
         print "<h3>Your shopping cart is empty!</h3>\n";
     }
     Else{//if cart is not empty:

         //remove trailing comma from $prodIDstr:

What exactly is a comma-delimited string, and what does removing a trailing comma do?

I think your title is misleading. It's not "how to use". It's about "what is..." — bestprogrammerintheworld, May 05 '13 at 19:27

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 05 '13 at 19:02

1) This question is best answered by a Google search: https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+a+comma+delimineted+string&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=&oe=#rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&q=what+is+a+comma+delimited+string&spell=1&sa=X&ei=S6yGUdmUMMS60QHvmoHwBg&ved=0CC0QvwUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45960087,d.dmQ&fp=2bfada69378a0dbe&biw=1680&bih=938

If you have different values, such as name and phone number, you would separate them by a comma: Name,PhoneNumber

2) This question is intuitive when you know what CSV is. If the last character is a comma, then removing a trailing comma deletes the comma.

Name,PhoneNumber, removes the last ,

Not to be lazy, but in php syntax, how do you remove a trailing comma from a csv statement (single line of code, NOT a csv file)? — Sam Peterson, May 05 '13 at 19:12
Search before asking my friend: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3835636/php-replace-last-occurence-of-a-string-in-a-string — Dirk McQuickly, May 05 '13 at 20:10

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 05 '13 at 19:30

What exactly is a comma-delimited string, and what does removing a trailing comma do?

A comma-delimited string is a string that separates parts of a string with commas. like

$a = 'you, should, do, your, homework, before, asking, stuff, like, this, here';

If removing a comma, then there will be fewer parts.

$a = 'you, should, do your homework, before, asking, stuff, like this here';

How to use a comma-delimited string in a shopping cart array

2 Answers2