RE: [PHP] Need help

or maybe explode using ";" as your delimiter first then loop through the returned array depending on what the current item is, and the previous item(s) are (maybe using flags to know where you are, and what has happened), act on the current one in a certain way dunno if i've written it in an understandable way, but as Steven says, break it down into smaller steps Martin -----Original Message----- From: Steven Walker [mailto:steve@walkereffects.com] Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 1:30 PM To: jtjohnston@courrier.usherb.ca Cc: php-general@lists.php.net Subject: Re: [PHP] Need help John, You could create a function to do this. Just think of it in small steps. You can use the string replace function to replace certain parts with other characters, or nothing at all. For example: $data = "Wilson; Hope,(i) Alec Derwent; King,(i) Bruce; James,(i) Henry;"; $new_data = str_replace(",(i) ", "\t", $data); You can then use explode() to put it into an array. You'll have to figure out the details, but that should get you started. Steven J. Walker Walker Effects www.walkereffects.com steve@walkereffects.com On Wednesday, February 20, 2002, at 06:01 PM, jtjohnston wrote: > Yeeesch! I neet help. > > I need a method to flush out lists of authors in a MySQL field called > "KW". > > The field looks a bit like this: > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- > > &&1; Caribbean and West Indies; Guyana;&&4; Birney,(i) Earle; Harris,(i) > Wilson; Hope,(i) Alec Derwent; King,(i) Bruce; James,(i) Henry; > Olson,(i) Charles; Rushdie,(i) Salman; Purdy,(i) Al; Joyce,(i) James; > Macleish,(i) Archibald; Cummings,(i) Edward Estlin (E.E.); Auden,(i) W. > H.; Atwood,(i) Margaret; Tutuola,(i) Amos; Simon,(i) Claude;&&7; > comparison of authors and works; > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------- > > In the section that starts with &&4 > I need to look for (i) search backward to the prewious ; and search > forward to the next ; and extract into an array the contents between the > semi-colons to arrive at something that looks like: > > Birney, Earle > Harris, Wilson > Hope, Alec Derwent > King, Bruce > James, Henry > Olson, Charles > Rushdie, Salman > Purdy, Al > Joyce, James > Macleish, Archibald > Cummings, Edward Estlin (E.E.) > Auden, W. H. > Atwood, Margaret > Tutuola, Amos > Simon, Claude > > Can someone please help me get started? > > John > > > -- > PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >