Split and echo into a list

Question

i have a sql table full of address' like this

Hattie:07903 000066::Dad:07854 000095::Tom:07903 000044::Allistair:07765 000005::Home:0115 974 0000::

i would like to split each and every one so that the name and number of each contact is echoed into a seprate panel within a listbox like below

<ol>
<li>Hattie:07903 000066</li>
<li>Dad:07854 000095</li>
</ol> 

Any help would be brilliant.

Thanks

Mason

Answer 1

You can split your string like this:

$adresses = explode("::", $yourString)

And then a simple foreach will print the content as you wish.

Answer 2

It would be better to restructure your database so that addresses aren't stored as a delimited string, but with each address as a row in an addresses table... preferably with the name and address as separate columns... makes it a lot harder for searching, and for manipulation of the data (adding a new address, etc)

$addresses = explode('::',$addressField);
echo '<ol>';
foreach($addresses as $address) {
   echo '<li>',$address,'</li>';
}
echo '</ol>';

EDIT

(Shamelessly stealing formatting from Prix's answer)

$addresses = explode('::',$addressField);
echo '<ol>';
foreach($addresses as $address) {
   list($name,$phone) = explode(':',$address);
   echo '<li>Name: ',$name,' Telephone: ',$phone,'</li>';
}
echo '</ol>';

Answer 3

#!/usr/bin/perl

use warnings;
use strict;

my $input = "Hattie:07903 000066::Dad:07854 000095::Tom:07903 000044::Allistair:07765 000005::Home:0115 9740000::";
my @output = map { split(/::/, $_) } $input;

print "<ol>\n";
foreach my $var (@output) {
    print "<li>$var</li>\n";
}

# or

foreach my $var (@output) {
    my ($name,$number) = split(/:/, $var);
    print "<li>Name: $name\t Number: $number</li>\n";
}
print "</ol>\n";

The output would be:

<li>Hattie:07903 000066</li>
<li>Dad:07854 000095</li>
<li>Tom:07903 000044</li>
<li>Allistair:07765 000005</li>
<li>Home:0115 974 0000</li>

Or:

<li>Name: Hattie Telephone: 07903 000066</li>
<li>Name: Dad Telephone: 07854 000095</li>
<li>Name: Tom Telephone: 07903 000044</li>
<li>Name: Allistair Telephone: 07765 000005</li>
<li>Name: Home Telephone: 0115 974 0000</li>

Answer 4

No sweat in Perl:

#! /usr/bin/perl

local $_ = "Hattie:07903 000066::Dad:07854 000095::Tom:07903 000044::Allistair:07765 000005::Home:0115 974 0000::";

print "<ol>\n",
      map("<li>$_</li>\n", split /::/),
      "</ol>\n";

As used in your question, the sequence :: is a terminator and not a separator, which makes split a bit of a conceptual mismatch. To fit the format more closely, use a regular-expression match in list context with /g

The /g modifier specifies global pattern matching—that is, matching as many times as possible within the string. How it behaves depends on the context. In list context, it returns a list of the substrings matched by any capturing parentheses in the regular expression.

and a non-greedy quantifier

By default, a quantified subpattern is “greedy,” that is, it will match as many times as possible (given a particular starting location) while still allowing the rest of the pattern to match. If you want it to match the minimum number of times possible, follow the quantifier with a ?. Note that the meanings don't change, just the “greediness” …

That amounts to

print "<ol>\n",
      map("<li>$_</li>\n", /(.+?)::/g),
      "</ol>\n";

Either way, the output is

<ol>
<li>Hattie:07903 000066</li>
<li>Dad:07854 000095</li>
<li>Tom:07903 000044</li>
<li>Allistair:07765 000005</li>
<li>Home:0115 974 0000</li>
</ol>