PHP List Explode Variable

Question

Using PHP, I'm trying to give each specific text its own variable. I believe this can be achieved by using the explode list function in php. Something similar to the code below:

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = explode(":", $data);

However, the above code separates the text by using a colon (:). The text I'd like to separate are within quotes, for example "WORD". The example text I'd like to separate is as below:

"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"

I'd like the text/numbers AULLAH1, 01/07/2010 15:28, 55621454, 123456, 123456.00 to all have a specific PHP variable. If possible, I'd like the PHP explode feature to separate the content by a beginning quote (") and an ending quote (").

Answer 1

A better way is to use preg_match_all:

$s = '"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"';
preg_match_all('/"([^"]*)"/', $s, $matches);
list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) = $matches[1];

The most simliar way would be to use preg_split:

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell) =
    preg_split('/"(?: ")?/', $s, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);

Answer 2

This is the simplest solution, but certainly not the most robust:

$data = '"AULLAH1" "01/07/2010 15:28 " "55621454" "123456" "123456.00"';

list($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell)
    = explode('" "', trim($data, '"'));

var_dump(array($user, $pass, $uid, $gid, $gecos, $home, $shell));

// gives:
array(7) {
  [0]=>
  string(7) "AULLAH1"
  [1]=>
  string(17) "01/07/2010 15:28 "
  [2]=>
  string(8) "55621454"
  [3]=>
  string(6) "123456"
  [4]=>
  string(9) "123456.00"
  [5]=>
  NULL
  [6]=>
  NULL
}

Answer 3

This should be done with a regular expression. See the preg_match function for this.

Answer 4

explode('-', str_replace('"', '', str_replace('" "', '"-"', $data)));