Need to remove duplicates values from array during foreach

Question

Hey All,
Just wondering if you can help me out.
I have a column with rows of tags. In each row i have each tag separated with a comma and space.

for example: BMW M5, Leather Seats, 24 Inch Wheels, etc.

What i need to do is loop through the array, explode it, and then print the values to the page. So far I have been able to do it; however, it prints the duplicates.

Here is the code i have so far:

<?php   
$cleanTags = ($row_getTags['tags']);  
$cleanerTags = str_replace(', ',"-",$cleanerTags);  
$tagstr = ($cleanerTags);   
$tags = explode('-',$tagstr);  

foreach($tags as $tag)  
{   
echo "<li><a href=\"results.php?search=".str_replace("&nbsp;",'%20',$tag)."\" title=\"Find more stuff tagged:&nbsp;".$tag."\" class=\"tagLink\">".$tag."</a></li>";
}
?>   

How can I go about removing duplicates from the array? I've tried array_unique with no luck. Any help would be greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance for your help!!!

Cheers

Answer 1

If array_unique didn't do the trick (I wonder how you used that), here is one way:

function remove_duplicates(array $array){
  $tmp_array = array();

  foreach($array as $key => $val)  
  {
     if (!in_array($val, $tmp_array))
     {
       $tmp_array[$key]  = $val;
     }
  }

  return $tmp_array;
}

And now your code should be:

$cleanTags = ($row_getTags['tags']);  
$cleanerTags = str_replace(', ',"-",$cleanerTags);  
$tagstr = ($cleanerTags);   
$tags = explode('-',$tagstr);  

// remove duplicates
$tags = remove_duplicates($tags);

foreach($tags as $tag)  
{   
  echo "<li><a href=\"results.php?search=".str_replace("&nbsp;",'%20',$tag)."\" title=\"Find more stuff tagged:&nbsp;".$tag."\" class=\"tagLink\">".$tag."</a></li>";
}

Answer 2

Normally, array_unique solves your problem. Like this:

$input = array("a" => "green", "red", "b" => "green", "blue", "red");
$result = array_unique($input);
print_r($result);

So... Can you show how did you try array_unique?

Answer 3

Hey Guys,

Thanks for your help... By after further review I think i am going about this all wrong and need to re-config a few things to make it a little more scalable.

I thank you all for your help!!!

Very much appreciated.

Tek9 :)