PHP check if a variable is LIKE an item in an array using in_array

Question

I am creating this array with the below code:

$ignored = array();
foreach(explode("\n", $_POST["ignored"]) as $ignored2) {
    $ignored[] = $ignored2;
}

and i want to check if any item inside the array is LIKE a variable. I have this so far:

if(in_array($data[6], $ignored)) {

but I'm not sure what to do with the LIKE

like an SQL query (SELECT * from table where col1 LIKE %...%) — user3843997, Aug 02 '14 at 14:00
So does that include handling wild cards, *ahem*, `LIKE '%term%'`? You need to explain what the rules are you're looking for. — Jared Farrish, Aug 02 '14 at 14:01
In your foreach loop, add a strpos function to check is the variable is "like" $ignored2 : strpos($ignored2, $myVariable) !== false — The One and Only ChemistryBlob, Aug 02 '14 at 14:02

Ravi Dhoriya ツ · Answer 1 · 2014-08-02T14:07:54.420

in_array() doesn't provide this type of comparison. You can make your own function as follows:

<?php
function similar_in_array( $sNeedle , $aHaystack )
{

    foreach ($aHaystack as $sKey)
    {
        if( stripos( strtolower($sKey) , strtolower($sNeedle) ) !== false )
        {
            return true;
        }
    }    
    return false;
}
?>

You can use this function as:

if(similar_in_array($data[6], $ignored)) {
    echo "Found";   // ^-search    ^--array of items
}else{              
    echo "Not found";
}

Function references:

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

0

Well, like is actually from SQL world. You can use something like this:

  $ignored = array();
  foreach(explode("\n", $_POST["ignored"]) as $ignored2) {
      $ignored[] = $ignored2;
      if ( preg_match('/^[a-z]+$/i', $ignored2) ) {
         //do what you want...
      }
  }

UPDATE: Well, I found this answer, may be it's what you need:

Php Search_Array using Wildcard

edited May 23 '17 at 12:20

Community

1
1

answered Aug 02 '14 at 14:02

yarren

23
4

2

i want to run the if statement outside the foreach loop – user3843997 Aug 02 '14 at 14:04

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:57

Here is a way to do it that can be customized fairly easily, using a lambda function:

$words = array('one','two','three','four');
$otherwords = array('three','four','five','six');

while ($word = array_shift($otherwords)) {
    print_r(array_filter($words, like_word($word)));
}

function like_word($word) {
    return create_function(
        '$a', 
        'return strtolower($a) == strtolower(' . $word . ');'
    );
}

http://codepad.org/yAyvPTIq

To add different checks, simply add more conditions to the return. To do it in a single function call:

while ($word = array_shift($otherwords)) {
    print_r(find_like_word($word, $words));
}

function find_like_word($word, $words) {
    return array_filter($words, like_word($word));
}

function like_word($word) {
    return create_function(
        '$a', 
        'return strtolower($a) == strtolower(' . $word . ');'
    );
}

PHP check if a variable is LIKE an item in an array using in_array

3 Answers3