Convert string in MySQL table field to array in PHP

Question

Problem:

I have a field in my MySQL table with the following value:

9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

I use PHP to put the value of this field in the variable: $row['Exclude'];

The problem is that I am using a function called rand_except() that looks as following:

function rand_except($min, $max, $except)
{
    //first sort array values
    sort($except, SORT_NUMERIC);

    //calculate average gap between except-values
    $except_count = count($except);
    $avg_gap = ($max - $min + 1 - $except_count) / ($except_count + 1);

    if ($avg_gap <= 0)
     return false;

    //now add min and max to $except, so all gaps between $except-values can be calculated
    array_unshift($except, $min - 1);
    array_push($except, $max + 1);
    $except_count += 2;

    //iterate through all values of except. If gap between 2 values is higher than average gap,
    // create random in this gap
    for ($i = 1; $i < $except_count; $i++)
      if ($except[$i] - $except[$i - 1] - 1 >= $avg_gap)
         return mt_rand($except[$i - 1] + 1, $except[$i] - 1);
    return false;
}

In order for this to work it needs to be like this:

$exclude = array(9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32);      
$_SESSION['experimentversion'] = rand_except(1, 32, $exclude);

Question:

How can I take the database field $row['Exclude'] and transform it into an array so it will work with the function?

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:46

2

Simple. Use Explode function.

$s = "1,2,3,4";
$y = explode(",", $s);
print_r($y)

answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:46

Romit

96
2
13

Does not work, it will only randomize numbers between 1-8 and ignore 17-25. No idea why. Is there a problem with the rand_except? – kexxcream Nov 22 '13 at 11:48
can you tell me what exactly should your function rand_except do? I mean what is the purpose of the function? – Romit Nov 22 '13 at 12:00
I have solved it, I used this function instead: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2698265/how-to-get-a-random-value-from-1n-but-excluding-several-specific-values-in-php – kexxcream Nov 22 '13 at 12:05

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 22 '13 at 12:17

2

There is a explode method in php you can use this method

$string = '1,2,3,4,5';
$array = explode(",",$string);
print_r($array);
it will create an array.

answered Nov 22 '13 at 12:17

innovative kundan

631
6
13

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:44

1

$exclude = explode(', ', $row['Exclude']);

answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:44

bitWorking

12,485
1
32
38

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:45

1

$str = '1,2,3,4,5';
$arr = explode(",",$str);
print_r($arr);

answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:45

Jim

22,354
6
52
80

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:45

1

This should do the trick:

    $exclude = explode(", ", $row['Exclude']);

answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:45

feddus

356
1
5

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:46

1

use explode function.. for more info of Explode Visi this link

 $row = "retrive your value from db";
 $data = explode(", ",$row);
 print_r($data); //here you will get array of your db field

answered Nov 22 '13 at 11:46

Kalpit

4,906
4
25
43

Convert string in MySQL table field to array in PHP

6 Answers6