separate names in loop with explode

[eo92866]

trying to create an array that is separating brackets, semi-colon and space from "mydata" and iterating over to create first and last name's separated into two subs... and then loop those through. so i'd like either change the way i can explode and loop the information... or place the first and second subs and skip the third sub in the array.

 

                $str = $_POST["mydata"];
                $mores = explode("[];",$str);
                foreach ($mores as $more)
                        {
                        $datas = explode(" ",$more);
                                if (array_values ($datas) === $datas)
			$xmlBody .= "      <member name='$datas[1], $datas[0]' display='$datas[0] $datas[1]'>Name</member>";
		}

 

 

can someone please assist? much appreciated.

 

 

[Pikachu2000]

Perhaps if you could provide a sample string, someone would be able to help.

[eo92866]

hope this example of names helps

 

$mydata = Tom Cruise [Tommy]; Hillary Duff [Hills]; Kate Hudson [Katie]; Dave Chappelle [Dave]; Bradley Pitt [brad]; Angelina Jollie [Angie]

 

 

and the output is into an XML document

$xmlBody .= '
<position>' . $_POST["position"] . '</position>';

                $str = $_POST["mydata"];
                $mores = explode("[];",$str);
                foreach ($mores as $more)
                        {
                        $datas = explode(" ",$more);
                                if (array_values ($datas) === $datas)
$xmlBody .= "      <member name='$datas[1], $datas[0]' display='$datas[0] $datas[1]'>Name</member>";
                          }

$xmlBody .= "";
echo $xmlBody;

[Pikachu2000]

So the resulting string should look like this, with the bracketed value simply discarded?

 

<member name='Cruise, Tom' display='Tom Cruise'>Name</member>

 

Are they all in exactly the same format, with no surprise middle names, etc.?

[eo92866]

currently, there are no middle names... and i'm hoping there are no surprise middle names down the line... but i guess i shouldn't discount the possibility of someone deciding to place middle names in there at some point.

 

and yes, they are all in the format of firstName LastName [nickname] or as you put it:

<member name='Cruise, Tom' display='Tom Cruise'>Name</member>

 

 

[eo92866]

so this is what i ended up with and did to explode multiple words and then display them separately... and as an added bonus... the example also has a way to place php into the creation of your xml document.

 

$xmlBody .= '
<position>' . $_POST["position"] . '</position>';

	//input data assigned to $str
                $str = $_POST["mydata"];
	//splitting $str with ]; and assigning to $mores
                $mores = explode("];",$str);
	//creating a loop
                foreach ($mores as $more)
                        {
		//splitting data even further with [ and assigning to $datas
		$datas = explode("[",$more);
		//trimming array and assigning $datas sub 0 to $name
		$name = trim($datas[0],"");
		//trimming array and assigning $datas sub 1 to $nname and used only if needed
		#$nname = trim($datas[1],"");
		//split even further on space and assign to $fnameParts
		$fnameParts = explode(" ",$name);

		//assign $fnameParts sub 0 to $fname
		$fname = $fnameParts[0];
		//assign $fnameParts sub 1 to $lname
		$lname = $fnameParts[1];

		$xmlBody .= "      <member name='$lname, $fname' display='$datas'>Name</member>";
                        }

$xmlBody .= "";
echo $xmlBody;

 

hope this helps someone down the line.