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benton · 04-08-2008, 12:56 AM

I'm building a string dynamically. The result is that it may start with a dash (-), a space or a letter. I need to remove the first two, if they occur. The following code simulates the problem. If ran as is, it outputs XB - CX, which is correct (the X's are to show there aren't any spaces). But it seems unnecessary and overly complicated to use three trims in a row. The $array can come from a number of sources so while I could probably condition the string there, that would cause more code than the three trims. Can anyone see a better way to do this?

PHP Code:


			
$array = array();

$array['a'][0] = '';

$array['a'][1] = ' B';

$array['a'][2] = 'C';



$str = implode(' ' .' - ' . ' ', $array['a']);

$str = trim($str);

$str = ltrim($str, '-');

$str = ltrim($str);

echo 'X'.$str.'X';

04-08-2008, 12:56 AM	#1 (permalink)
benton The Contributor Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 78 Thanks: 0	Looking for a better way to code this I'm building a string dynamically. The result is that it may start with a dash (-), a space or a letter. I need to remove the first two, if they occur. The following code simulates the problem. If ran as is, it outputs XB - CX, which is correct (the X's are to show there aren't any spaces). But it seems unnecessary and overly complicated to use three trims in a row. The $array can come from a number of sources so while I could probably condition the string there, that would cause more code than the three trims. Can anyone see a better way to do this? PHP Code: `$array = array(); $array['a'][0] = ''; $array['a'][1] = ' B'; $array['a'][2] = 'C'; $str = implode(' ' .' - ' . ' ', $array['a']); $str = trim($str); $str = ltrim($str, '-'); $str = ltrim($str); echo 'X'.$str.'X';`