Extract Data from a .txt File (PHP)

Question

Using PHP, is there a better way of extracting the appropiate bits of information out of a text file without using strpos and substr PHP functions?

I need to extract the "Course xxx", No, and Ref

Example: The results for record with Subject of "Course 1...." would be:

Course 1
8415
152

Example .txt File:

Name: Dave
Age: 15
Subject: Course 1 (No: 8415, Ref: #152#)
Description:

Description 1



Name: John
Age: 28
Subject: Course 2 (No: 646544, Ref: #325#)
Description:

Description 1



Name: Steve
Age: 22
Subject: Course 3 (No: 545, Ref: #451#)
Description:

Description 1

EDIT: Noticed I don't need all data extracted, but all data will still be in file.

What's the 'Description 1' part? Rest is easy to extract with Regular Expressions. The question is... is the file consistent through out its entire structure? (Like the 2 enters which I can use as separators to help you with this) And is Description: Always a single line? — CodeAngry
– CodeAngry, Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 20:51
EDIT: I have just noticed I don't nedd all the data extracted, but all data will still be in file. — user826855
– user826855, Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 20:58
@Claudrian yes, the file is always in the same format, and the description is always on one line, with blank lines underneath. — user826855
– user826855, Commented Oct 17, 2012 at 21:01

CodeAngry · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 21:05:14Z

if(preg_match_all('~'.
    'Name:\\s*(?<Name>.+?)\r?\n'. // Name
    'Age:\\s*(?<Age>[0-9]+)\r?\n'. // Age
    'Subject:\\s*(?<Subject>.+?)\\s*\\('. // Subject
        'No:\\s*(?<No>[0-9]+)\\s*,'. // No
        '\\s*Ref:\\s*#(?<Ref>[0-9]+)#'. // Ref
    '\\)\r?\n'. // /Subject
    'Description:\\s*(?<Description>.+?)\r?\n'. // Description
'~si', $AccountDump, $Matches)){
    $Names = $Matches['Name'];
    $Ages = $Matches['Age'];
    $Subjects = $Matches['Subject'];
    $Nos = $Matches['No'];
    $Refs = $Matches['Ref'];
    $Descriptions = $Matches['Description'];
    $Accounts = array();
    foreach($Names as $Key => $Name){
        $Accounts[$Key] = array_map('trim', array(
            'Name'              => $Name,
            'Age'               => $Ages[$Key],
            'Subject'           => $Subjects[$Key],
            'No'                => $Nos[$Key],
            'Ref'               => $Refs[$Key],
            'Description'       => $Descriptions[$Key],
        ));
    }
    // Got them!
    var_dump($Accounts);
}

Load text in a variable named $AccountDump.

Have fun. Tested on your sample and it works. I've split the RegExp so you can track it if you want.

Hope it works!

Kelvin · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 21:07:15Z

1

You'll probably want to use regular expressions for this. It will get a little complex, but won't be nearly as bad as strpos and substr.

As a starting point, here's a regular expression that will match name:value pairs -

$matches = array();
preg_match_all('/^([^\s:]+):\s*(.+)$/m', $data, $matches);

print_r($matches);

Edit: I got curious and finished the regex, here it is in its entirety -

preg_match_all('/^([^\s:]+):\s*(.+?)(?:\s*\(([^\s:]+):\s*(.+),\s*([^\s:]+):\s*(.+)\))?$/m', $data, $matches);

edited Oct 17, 2012 at 21:07

answered Oct 17, 2012 at 20:46

Kelvin

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Comments

Baba · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 22:30:56Z

You can have

$data = file_get_contents("log.txt");
$data = array_chunk(array_filter(array_map("trim",explode(chr(13).chr(10).chr(13), $data))),2);
$lists = array();

foreach ( $data as $value ) {
    $list = array();
    foreach ( explode("\n", implode("", $value)) as $item ) {
        list($key, $value) = explode(":", $item);
        $list[trim($key)] = trim($value);
    }
    $lists[] = $list;
}
var_dump($lists);

Output

array
  0 => 
    array
      'Name' => string 'Dave' (length=4)
      'Age' => string '15' (length=2)
      'Subject' => string 'Course 1 (No' (length=12)
      'Description' => string 'Description 1' (length=13)
  1 => 
    array
      'Name' => string 'John' (length=4)
      'Age' => string '28' (length=2)
      'Subject' => string 'Course 2 (No' (length=12)
      'Description' => string 'Description 1' (length=13)
  2 => 
    array
      'Name' => string 'Steve' (length=5)
      'Age' => string '22' (length=2)
      'Subject' => string 'Course 3 (No' (length=12)
      'Description' => string 'Description 1' (length=13)

SYNCRo · Accepted Answer · 2012-10-17 20:35:56Z

0

Take a look at this two PHP functions:

preg_replace

preg_match_all

answered Oct 17, 2012 at 20:35

SYNCRo

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3 Comments

Ofir Baruch Over a year ago

it's more a comment than an answer

user826855 Over a year ago

Does any one know of a site that can gerate regular expressions for you? All you need to do is entered the match (the thing you are searching for.)?

Kelvin Over a year ago

regexpal.com can be very helpful when building regular expressions. The site was inspired by a commercial product, regexbuddy, which I've had a lot of success with over the years

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