PHP explode on second instance of a delimiter

Question

I am trying to explode a string using PHP but when only if the second instance of the delimiter is detected before exploding it, for my case i want to explode it after the second space is detected.

My String

Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray

My desire output

Apple Green
Yellow Four
Seven Gray

My initial code

$string = 'Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray';
$new = explode(' ',$string);

How can i achieve this using explode or any separating method with PHP? thanks in advance!

Farsay · Accepted Answer · 2017-08-02T05:21:19.117

5

Nice question - it can be done in many way. i came up with this 1 -

 $data='Apple Green Yellow Blue';


$split = array_map(
    function($value) {
        return implode(' ', $value);
    },
    array_chunk(explode(' ', $data), 2)
);

var_dump($split);

edited Aug 02 '17 at 05:21

answered Aug 02 '17 at 05:08

Farsay

312
1
9

In my case it only returned `Array ( [0] => Apple Green [1] => Yellow Four Seven Gray ) ` somehow it missed the `Seven Gray` – KaoriYui Aug 02 '17 at 05:15
okay @KaoriYui ..i did it wrong please see my updated answer ..it will work perfect – Farsay Aug 02 '17 at 05:16
Ok so Ive changed the delimiter to space and change the var_dump into print_r, this is the simplest, thanks! – KaoriYui Aug 02 '17 at 05:20
oh again ...sorry mate ..i updated it to space delimiter . – Farsay Aug 02 '17 at 05:22

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 02 '17 at 05:20

You can use this also :

$string = 'Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray';
$lastPos = 0;
$flag = 0;
while (($lastPos = strpos($string, " ", $lastPos))!== false) {  
    if(($flag%2) == 1)
    {
        $string[$lastPos] = "@";
    }
    $positions[] = $lastPos;
    $lastPos = $lastPos + strlen(" ");
    $flag++;
}
$new = explode('@',$string);
print_r($new);
exit;

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 02 '17 at 05:03

1

You can use regular expression for that.

$founds = array();
$text='Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray';
preg_match('/^([^ ]+ +[^ ]+) +(.*)$/', $text, $founds);

Refer to the following answer too

answered Aug 02 '17 at 05:03

Murtaza Khursheed Hussain

15,176
7
58
83

My output is `Array ( [0] => Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray [1] => Apple Green [2] => Yellow Four Seven Gray ) ` it missed the `Seven Gray` on explode – KaoriYui Aug 02 '17 at 05:12
view the link I referenced in the answer. It will help you – Murtaza Khursheed Hussain Aug 02 '17 at 05:14

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 02 '17 at 05:05

With the explode you can not get desired output. You have to use preg_match_all to find all values. Here is an example :

$matches = array();
preg_match_all('/([A-Za-z0-9\.]+(?: [A-Za-z0-9\.]+)?)/',
       'Apple Green Yellow Four Seven Gray',$matches);

print_r($matches);

Let me know if you have any issue.

PHP explode on second instance of a delimiter

4 Answers4