Find if some words in array value are in same array php

Question

I have to find where a given string is in my multidimensional array. So this is my array

$input = array(array('time' => '18:31:00', 'artist' => 'LUIS RODRIGUEZ & DEN HARROW'), array('time' => '18:32:00', 'artist' => 'J BALVIN'), array('time' => '18:33:00', 'artist' => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN'), array('time' => '18:34:00', 'artist' => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN'), array('time' => '18:35:00', 'artist' => 'J BALVIN'));

I have to find at what time I can find this

$artista_inserito = 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN';

So I use a function to delimiter my array and even string

function multiexplode($delimiters, $string)
{
 $ready = str_replace($delimiters, $delimiters[0], $string);
 $launch = explode($delimiters[0], $ready);
 return $launch;
}
// array with string delimeter
$array_delimiter_artisti = array(' FEAT ', ' feat ', ' FT ', ' ft ', ' + ', ' AND ', ' and ', ' E ', ' e ', ' VS ', ' vs ', ' FEAT. ', ' feat. ', ' FT. ', ' ft. ', ' VS. ', ' vs. ', ' , ', ' & ');
// I split the current artist
$artisti_inseriti = multiexplode($array_delimiter_artisti, $artista_inserito);

So I search the given string un my array

foreach ($input as $split) {
 $time = $split['time'];
 $artist = $split['artist'];
 $lista_artisti = multiexplode($array_delimiter_artisti, $artist);
 foreach ($lista_artisti as $nuovo) {
 $artista_split = $nuovo;
 // copy all new data in new array
 $nuovo_array_dati[] = array('time' => $time, 'artist' => $artista_split);
 }
}
foreach ($nuovo_array_dati as $controllo) {
 $time = $controllo['time'];
 $artist = $controllo['artist'];
 foreach ($artisti_inseriti as $trova_artista) {
 $artista_singolo = $trova_artista;
 foreach ($controllo as $index => $a) {
 if (strstr($a, $artista_singolo)) {
 // now I can print where I found the given string $artista_inserito
 echo "$artista_singolo is at $time ";
 }
 }
 }
}

So this is my output

J BALVIN is at 18:32:00 
THE BLACK EYED PEAS is at 18:33:00 
J BALVIN is at 18:33:00 
THE BLACK EYED PEAS is at 18:34:00 
J BALVIN is at 18:34:00 
J BALVIN is at 18:35:00 

Can I improve this? Thanks

• mickmackusa: Merely splitting on whitespaces may not be a reliable way to search the haystacks with the generated needles. I feel like this topic has been reviewed before. codereview.stackexchange.com/q/178870/141885 Also, according to the php documentation, it is not advised to use strstr() to check the existence of a substring in a string -- using strpos() is a better performer. I don't see any reason to check the time column's data. Why do you only use the first element of $array_delimiter_artisti?
• Mast: @mickmackusa Please don't use duplicates like this on Code Review. Our policy on duplicates is a bit different from other Q&A sites.
• pette: @mickmackusa I have to log at what time there is the same artist, so I have to check also the time

Answer 1

I have a bias toward regex because I'm generally comfortable with most techniques, so I'll recommend condensing your array of delimiters into a single regex pattern and employ preg_split() to execute the explosion.

After splitting the search string into its separate artists, I am flipping the values & keys to optimize the lookup for later use in the nested loop.

Then as you iterate the haystack of artist times, you can re-use the splitting pattern, then iterate each individual artist and store the desired data for qualifying rows.

Code: (Demo)

$fullArtistTimes = [
 ['time' => '18:31:00', 'artist' => 'LUIS RODRIGUEZ & DEN HARROW'],
 ['time' => '18:32:00', 'artist' => 'J BALVIN'],
 ['time' => '18:33:00', 'artist' => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN'],
 ['time' => '18:34:00', 'artist' => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN'],
 ['time' => '18:35:00', 'artist' => 'J BALVIN']
];
$fullArtist = 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS FT J BALVIN';
$artistDelimiters = '~ (?:[+e,&]|and|f(?:ea)?t\.?|vs\.?) ~i';
$artists = array_flip(preg_split($artistDelimiters, $fullArtist));
$result = [];
foreach ($fullArtistTimes as $row) {
 foreach (preg_split($artistDelimiters, $row['artist']) as $artist) {
 if (isset($artists[$artist])) {
 $result[] = "{$artist} is at {$row['time']}";
 }
 }
}
var_export($result);

Output:

array (
 0 => 'J BALVIN is at 18:32:00',
 1 => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS is at 18:33:00',
 2 => 'J BALVIN is at 18:33:00',
 3 => 'THE BLACK EYED PEAS is at 18:34:00',
 4 => 'J BALVIN is at 18:34:00',
 5 => 'J BALVIN is at 18:35:00',
)

If this does not work for all of your cases, then I would need to see more test cases and your desired result before I could properly adjust my snippet.

• pette: Thanks, my only problem is the $artistDelimiters, I have to retrieve the delimiters from a mysql table where the user can add or remove some words, so the delimiters has to be more simple
• mickmackusa: '~ (?:' . implode('|', array_map(function($v){ return preg_quote($v, '~'); }, $databaseDelimiters)) . ') ~'
• pette: If I use this I haven't same result code $databaseDelimiters = array(' FEAT ', ' feat ', ' FT ', ' ft ', ' + ', ' AND ', ' and ', ' E ', ' e ', ' VS ', ' vs ', ' FEAT. ', ' feat. ', ' FT. ', ' ft. ', ' VS. ', ' vs. ', ' , ', ' & '); $artistDelimiters = '~ (?:' . implode('|', array_map(function ($v) { return preg_quote($v, '~'); }, $databaseDelimiters)) . ') ~'; $artists = array_flip(preg_split($artistDelimiters, $fullArtist));
• pette: I'm sorry, I have to delete the blank spaces... it is right? Thanks
• mickmackusa: Ah yes, I forgot that bit. Yes, trim() them (before even saving them to the db -- keep your data tidy).