php split string using date format

Question

I have a simple string that should contain a name and a date of birth as below:

$searchParams = '12/12/1978 Bob Smithers';

or alternatively

$searchParams = 'Bob Smithers 12/12/1978';

What I need to do is split the date away from the name if the date exists within the string. I can obtain the date through the code below although this throws a few quirks if ordered as in the first example above.

$splitData=preg_split('/([0-9]{1,2})-([0-9]{1,2})-([0-9]{2,4})$/', $searchParams);

The second example returns an array:

<pre class='xdebug-var-dump' dir='ltr'>
<b>array</b>
<i>(size=2)</i>
0 <font color='#888a85'>=&gt;</font> <small>string</small>
<font color='#cc0000'>'bob smithers '</font>
<i>(length=13)</i>
1 <font color='#888a85'>=&gt;</font> <small>string</small>
<font color='#cc0000'>''</font>
<i>(length=0)</i>

What I require is to split the string into two pieces - one containing the date and one containing the name

preg_split will use the regexp as the delimiter upon which the string will be split - i.e. it will not be returned. Try preg_match_all to get the date, and then remove it from the original string if it is found — Tasos Bitsios
– Tasos Bitsios, Commented Dec 20, 2013 at 10:32

Glavić · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 10:36:00Z

1

You can use this simple function, that will return dates in array, and rest of the string:

function strip_name_and_date($searchParams) {
    $pattern = '~\d{2}/\d{2}/\d{4}~';
    preg_match_all($pattern, $searchParams, $matches);
    $name = trim(preg_replace($pattern, '', $searchParams));
    return array('name' => $name, 'dates' => $matches[0]);
}

demo

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 10:36

Glavić

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Comments

theDilletante · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 10:37:11Z

1

preg_split allow fourth parameter is flags:

$searchParams = 'Bob Smithers 12-12-1978';

$splitData=preg_split('/\s*([0-9]{1,2}-[0-9]{1,2}-[0-9]{2,4})\s*/', $searchParams, -1, PREG_SPLIT_DELIM_CAPTURE | PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

var_dump($splitData);

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 10:37

theDilletante

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Amal · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 10:41:15Z

1

You can use capturing groups to extract the date and then the name followed by it. It is hard to to write a perfect regular expression to account for all possible dates, including leap years. It's better to use PHP's strtotime() to do the validation:

$pieces = array();    
$searchParams = '12/12/1978 Bob Smithers';
if (preg_match('~(\d{2}/\d{2}/\d{4})\s+(.*)~', $searchParams, $matches)) {
    if (strtotime($matches[1])) {
        $pieces = array($matches[1], $matches[2]);
    }
}

print_r($pieces);

Output:

Array
(
    [0] => 12/12/1978
    [1] => Bob Smithers
)

Demo.

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 10:41

Amal

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Shankar Narayana Damodaran · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 10:39:41Z

0

A regex free solution [Works for both cases]

<?php
$searchParams = 'Bob Smithers 12/12/1978';
$val=explode(' ',$searchParams);
if(strpos($val[0],'/')!==false)
{
//echo "true";
$date = array_shift($val);
$name= implode(' ',$val);
echo $name.",".$date;
}
else
{
$date = array_pop($val);
$name= implode(' ',$val);
echo $name.",".$date;
}

edited Dec 20, 2013 at 10:39

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 10:31

Shankar Narayana Damodaran

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enigma · Accepted Answer · 2013-12-20 10:59:28Z

0

The easiest solution I can think of:

$str='12/12/1978 Bob Smithers';
$ar=array();
$regex="(?:\d\d?[\/-]){2}\d{2,4}";
preg_match("/".$regex."/",$str,$ar);
array_push($ar,preg_replace("/\s*".$regex."\s*/","",$str));
var_dump($ar);

answered Dec 20, 2013 at 10:59

enigma

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