Echoing Text File Rows into Array Display...

buildakicker · 02-01-2008, 09:54 PM

Hi all

Right now i can display each row of my text file using echo... I have my rows divided up by ||... for example:

me||10-02-07||information on php
you||1-12-07||some more info...

I would like to make it look like:

Who posted: ME
Date: 10-02-07
Comment: information on php

Right now I am using a foreach loop to grab the data.

PHP Code:


			
  $fp = fopen("comments.txt", "r+");

    while(!feof($fp)){

        $line_of_text = fgets($fp);

        $parts = explode('||', $line_of_text);

        foreach($parts as $part){

            echo $part;

        }

    }

    fclose($fp);

I need to have 2 arrays here right? $part[0][1]; or something like that?

Thanks!

buildakicker · 02-01-2008, 10:07 PM

I see some other posts with similar thoughts... but not quite what i am looking for...

Alan @ CIT · 02-01-2008, 10:14 PM

Is there a particular reason why you want the file format to be in that structure? It's not an ideal structure to read

For example, to read a structure like that you'd have to read each 3 line block. This means that if you decided to add a 4th line to future blocks, the script would break quite badly.

If you really want that format is it possible that your app could use XML instead? That would make it a lot easier to read/write to and save a lot of work if you decide to change the format in the future

Alan

Salathe · 02-01-2008, 10:41 PM

How about:

PHP Code:


			
<?php header('Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8');

$comments = array();

$fp = fopen('comments.txt', 'r+');
if ( ! $fp) die ('Unable to load comments');
while ( ! feof($fp) && $comments[] = array_filter(fgetcsv($fp, 2048, '|')));
fclose($fp);


foreach ($comments as $comment)
{
    $comment = array_combine(array('user', 'date', 'body'), array_values($comment));
    echo 'Who posted: ', $comment['user'], "\n",
         'Date: ', $comment['date'], "\n",
         'Comment: ', $comment['body'], "\n\n";
}

The important one being line 7: while ....

buildakicker · 02-01-2008, 10:51 PM

Thanks for the post. Is that system more streamlined that what I have?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salathe

How about:

PHP Code:


			
<?php header('Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8');



$comments = array();



$fp = fopen('comments.txt', 'r+');

if ( ! $fp) die ('Unable to load comments');

while ( ! feof($fp) && $comments[] = array_filter(fgetcsv($fp, 2048, '|')));

fclose($fp);





foreach ($comments as $comment)

{

    $comment = array_combine(array('user', 'date', 'body'), array_values($comment));

    echo 'Who posted: ', $comment['user'], "\n",

         'Date: ', $comment['date'], "\n",

         'Comment: ', $comment['body'], "\n\n";

}

The important one being line 7: while ....

buildakicker · 02-01-2008, 10:42 PM

For right now I would. I know XML is the better choice, but I don't have the grasp yet on it to do this.

I have it working:

PHP Code:


			
 <?php

$fp = fopen("comments.txt", "r+");

    while(!feof($fp)){

        $line_of_text = fgets($fp);

        $parts = explode('||', $line_of_text);

        echo "<h4>Road #: " . $parts[4] . "</h4> <span class='small'>Posted by: " . $parts[0] . "<br /> Date Posted: " . $parts[1] . "<br />" . "Location: " . $parts[3] . "</span><p><strong>Comments:</strong> " .$parts[5] . "</p>";

    }

    fclose($fp);

    ?>

However, onload, it gives me blank Road #: Posted by: etc... How can I get it to show nothing if the file is empty?

I have tried: if(!empty($file)){die}

But it doesn't work.

I would like it not to loop, unless there is at least 1 post.

Alan @ CIT · 02-01-2008, 10:50 PM

I know that you want to use text files for storing your data at the moment, but for future use and for others looking to do similar, I'd like to suggest using SQLite instead - TalkPHP - Introduction to SQLite

Alan

buildakicker · 02-01-2008, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan @ CIT

I know that you want to use text files for storing your data at the moment, but for future use and for others looking to do similar, I'd like to suggest using SQLite instead - TalkPHP - Introduction to SQLite

Alan

I looked at the php config on our server, doesn't look like they offer SQLite. I wish they did. I have been told to use that before. our version is: PHP Version 4.3.11

DeMo · 02-02-2008, 10:19 AM

Just an addition, you can check if a file exists using the file_exists() function, and the filesize() function will tell you the file size in bytes.

PHP Code:


			
$file = '/path/to/file.txt';

if (file_exists($file)) {

    // the file exists, get the size

    $size = filesize($file);

    if ($size == 0)

        // the file is empty

    } else {

        // the file is not empty

    }

}

xenon · 02-02-2008, 01:05 PM

umm...fscanf?

buildakicker · 02-04-2008, 05:01 PM

thanks all,
got it working great.

buildakicker · 02-04-2008, 07:17 PM

I guess I do have one more question... Is there a way to read the file backwards in order to post the older posts at the end and the new ones first inside the text file?