in_array returns false on same characters, single character string matching

Question

function make_ascii($str) {
    $special = array('ľ','š','č','ť','ž','ý','á','í','é','ú','ä','ô','ň','ě');
    $ascii =   array('l','s','c','t','z','y','a','i','e','u','a','o','n','e');
    $str = str_split($str);
    foreach ($str as $k => $c) {
        if(ctype_upper($c)) {
            $u = true;
            $c = strtolower($c);
        } else {
            $u = false;
        }
        if(in_array($c, $special, false)) {
            $c = $ascii[array_search($c, $special)];
        }
        if($u) {
            $c = strtoupper($c);
        }
        $str[$k] = $c;
    }
    return join($str);
}

In this function, even if I feed characters from $special array the in_array() returns false every time, if I would var_dump() on regular text I try to parse, the output will be just bool(false) with no mach, even if I copy paste the character from source to array. Also I'm looking for way to make this character replacement work.

sorry, that return was just placed there to keep whole script working — azurinko, Sep 28 '17 at 10:26
Is this the full set of the special characters you want to replace? There are a few questions that provide more general solutions, e.g. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3635511/remove-diacritics-from-a-string — iainn, Sep 28 '17 at 10:30

B. Desai · Answer 1 · 2017-09-28T10:52:58.080

As str_splitwill not work for multibyte you have to use mb_to perform multibyte string operation

function make_ascii($str) {
    //return $str;
    $special = array('ľ','š','č','ť','ž','ý','á','í','é','ú','ä','ô','ň','ě');
    $ascii =   array('l','s','c','t','z','y','a','i','e','u','a','o','n','e');
    $str = array_map(function ($i) use ($str) { 
    return mb_substr($str, $i, 1); 
}, range(0, mb_strlen($str) -1));
    foreach ($str as $k => $c) {
        if(ctype_upper($c)) {
            $u = true;
            $c = strtolower($c);
        } else {
            $u = false;
        }
       // print_r($c);
        if(in_array($c, $special)) {
            $c = $ascii[array_search($c, $special)];
        }
        if($u) {
            $c = strtoupper($c);
        }
        $str[$k] = $c;
    }
    return join($str);
}
var_dump(make_ascii('áé'));

DEMO

If issue with uppercase letters you have to change functions to mb_strtoupper and mb_strtolower. Also ctype_upper will not work so change it also

function make_ascii($str) {
    //return $str;
    $special = array('ľ','š','č','ť','ž','ý','á','í','é','ú','ä','ô','ň','ě');
    $ascii =   array('l','s','c','t','z','y','a','i','e','u','a','o','n','e');
    $str = array_map(function ($i) use ($str) { 
    return mb_substr($str, $i, 1); 
}, range(0, mb_strlen($str) -1));

    foreach ($str as $k => $c) {
        if( mb_strtoupper($c, "UTF-8") == $c) {
            $u = true;
            $c = mb_strtolower($c);
        } else {
            $u = false;
        }
       // print_r($c);
        if(in_array($c, $special)) {
            $c = $ascii[array_search($c, $special)];
        }
        if($u) {
            $c = mb_strtoupper($c);
        }
        $str[$k] = $c;
    }
    return join($str);
}
$str = "ľÁľa ýellow";
var_dump(make_ascii($str));

DEMO

sounds good, demo is working, but somehow here on my text it doesn't get past in_array, that always gets false. — azurinko, Sep 28 '17 at 10:40
Sidenote: (also I realised for my answer too), `strtolower` will also not work. We probalby need [`mb_strtolower`](http://php.net/manual/en/function.mb-strtolower.php) — apokryfos, Sep 28 '17 at 10:41
check your string https://3v4l.org/Y9ZOh If you have diffrent string give that string — B. Desai, Sep 28 '17 at 10:41

apokryfos · Answer 2 · 2017-09-28T10:42:25.133

As I mentioned str_split can't handle multi-byte strings. Don't believe me? Have a look.

At any rate here's a version that can split multibyte strings:

function make_ascii($str) {

    $special = array('ľ','š','č','ť','ž','ý','á','í','é','ú','ä','ô','ň','ě');
    $ascii =   array('l','s','c','t','z','y','a','i','e','u','a','o','n','e');
    $str = preg_split("//u",$str);
    foreach ($str as $k => $c) {
        if(ctype_upper($c)) {
            $u = true;
            $c = mb_strtolower($c);
        } else {
            $u = false;
        }
        if(in_array($c, $special, false)) {
            $c = $ascii[array_search($c, $special)];
        }
        if($u) {
            $c = mb_strtoupper($c);
        }
        $str[$k] = $c;
    }
    return join($str);
}

$str = "ľaľa ýellow";

print_r(make_ascii($str));

Prints:

lala yellow

in_array returns false on same characters, single character string matching

2 Answers2