Split string based on different "keywords" in PHP

Question

I have a string in PHP:

$haystack = "[:something 1]Here is something 1 content[:something 2]here is something else[:something completely different]Here is the completely different content"

And it can continue forever.

So, I need to split them into an associative array:

$final_array = [
   'something 1' => 'Here is something 1 content',
   'something 2' => 'here is something else',
   'something completely different' => 'Here is the completely different content'
]

The only thing that is set is the beginning [: and then the end ] The keyword can be a whole sentence with spaces etc.

How to do this?

What have you tried? Please post some sample data and code, and tell us what isn't working for you. Also, check this link out: stackoverflow.com/help/mcve. — CLAbeel, Nov 04 '16 at 11:53

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 11 '23 at 00:57

0

Try this, use explode

$str = "Hello world. It's a beautiful day.";
$main_array = explode("[:",$haystack);
foreach($main_array as $val)
{
    $temp_array = explode("]",$val);
    $new_array[$temp_array[0]] =  $temp_array[1];
}
print_r(array_filter($new_array));

edited Apr 11 '23 at 00:57

Xpear

3
2

answered Nov 04 '16 at 11:17

Dave

3,073
7
20
33

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 04 '16 at 11:17

You need to use explode to split your strig up. like so:

     $haystack = "[:something 1]Here is something 1 content[:something 2]here is something else[:something completely different]Here is the completely different content";

    // Explode by the start delimeter to give us 
    // the key=>value pairs as strings
    $temp = explode('[:', $haystack);
    unset($temp[0]); // Unset the first, empty, value
    $results= []; // Create an array to store our results in

    foreach ($temp as $t) { // Foreach key=>value line
        $line = explode(']', $t); // Explode by the end delimeter
        $results[$line[0]] = end($line); // Add the results to our results array
    }

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 04 '16 at 11:41

How about:

$haystack = "[:something 1]Here is something 1 content[:something 2]here is something else[:something completely different]Here is the completely different content";
$arr = preg_split('/\[:(.+?)\]/', $haystack, 0, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY|PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE);
$res = array();
for($i = 0; $i < count($arr); $i += 2) {
    $res[$arr[$i]] = $arr[$i+1];
}
print_r($res);

Output:

Array
(
    [something 1] => Here is something 1 content
    [something 2] => here is something else
    [something completely different] => Here is the completely different content
)

I love everything about this one except for the `.+?` -- I'd rather see a negated character class for performance reasons. — mickmackusa, Feb 02 '21 at 06:17

Split string based on different "keywords" in PHP

3 Answers3