php array in_array oddity...

Question

of all the languages i know im the weakest in php...

I have a script... that takes a csv file and does some stuff with it... fairly simple.

the issue i am having: in_array('username', $headers) ... returns null... while... print_r ($headers); shows username being the first entry in the csv.

thoughts? mistakes i may have made?

TIA

code here

/// Turn the string into an array
            $rows = explode("\n", $this->raw_data);

            /// First row includes headers
            $headers = $rows[0];
            $headers = explode($this->delimiter, $headers);

            /// Trim spaces from $headers
            $headers = array_map('trim', $headers);

            /// Check that there are no empty headers. This can happen if there are delimiters at the end of the file
            foreach($headers as $header){

                    if(!empty($header)){
                            $headers2[] = $header;
                    }
            }
            $headers = $headers2;

            if(! in_array('password', $headers)){
                    /// Add password column for generated passwords
                    $headers[] = 'password';
            }
            /// Add status column to the headers
            $headers[] = 'status';

            $this->headers = $headers;

            /// Check that at least username, name and email are provided in the headers
            if(!in_array('username', $headers) ||
               !in_array('name', $headers) ||
               !in_array('email', $headers)){

               echo "error\n";   
               return false;
            }

Answer 1

Check the first three functions in this list . Your problem can arise from several causes. Start by elimination of unnecessary parsing by using the built in CSV function.

Answer 2

I don't see code that sets $headers2 to be an array. Is the first assignment to that variable getting lost once the second assignment happens which turns it into an array?

Answer 3

You can use the built in str_getcsv() function. Try replacing the $headers variable assignment with

$headers = str_getcsv($rows[0], $this->delimiter);

Then find the value(column) you want and loop through the rest of the $rows using the same str_getcsv() function to get the matches you need.

You may want to use the file() function to grab the file in an array delimited by newlines to begin with, as well.