Strings as lines from other strings?

Edit: The title is confusing because I wrote it with a different idea in mine and forgot to change it :S.


Basically I have this PHP which takes a text file and outputs a random 8 lines from it. Now this is fine, except sometimes you get repeats which I do not want. I figure it will be complicated to take the code that I have and modify it so that it has no repeats.

What I want to do is make it shuffle the lines in the text file and then output the top 8 or something.

What I have:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

                function RandomLine($seed) {
             
                             $sites = file('/dir/to/file.txt');                      
                             $string = $sites[array_rand($sites)];              

                return $string;
                }
                
                $s0 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s1 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s2 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s3 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s4 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s5 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s6 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));
                $s7 = RandomLine(rand((float) microtime(), 1000003));

           
$link = array($s0, $s1, $s2, $s3, $s4, $s5, $s7, $s7);

shuffle($link);

foreach ($link as $value)
{
    $explode = explode('|', $value);
    echo '<p>' . $explode[2] . ' <a href="' . $explode[0] . '">' . $explode[1] . '</a> ' . $explode[2] . '</p>';
}

?>

---

I want to take /dir/to/file.txt, shuffle it and feed the top 8 lines or whatever into my explode.

I'm embarrassed by this 30 sec code. But something like this should do what you want

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file_get_contents( '/dir/to/file.txt' );

$fileSegments = explode( '|', $file );
$fileSegments = shuffle( $fileSegments );

for ($i = 0; $i < 8 ; $i++) {
{
    echo $fileSegments[$i];
}

?>

---

Maybe I mis-understood what you want. But that would take a file like:

This is a sentence.|This is another sentence, yay.|One More

You could easily change the explode to "\n" or something. Hope it helps.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Source

I'm embarrassed by this 30 sec code. But something like this should do what you want

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file_get_contents( '/dir/to/file.txt' );

$fileSegments = explode( '|', $file );
$fileSegments = shuffle( $fileSegments );

for ($i = 0; $i < 8 ; $i++) {
{
    echo $fileSegments[$i];
}

?>

---

Maybe I mis-understood what you want. But that would take a file like:

This is a sentence.|This is another sentence, yay.|One More

You could easily change the explode to "\n" or something. Hope it helps.

---

The file is more complex than that. It looks like:

Code:

---

http://url1.com|words that link to url1
http://url2.com|words that link to url2
http://url3.com|words that link to url3
http://url4.com|words that link to url4
http://url5.com|words that link to url5
etc...

---

The explode that I have does exactly what I want. Imagine this list has 20+ lines. I want to display a random 8 or so without any repeats.

What I think your does would shuffle my "http://urln.com|words that link to urln" around. And not look at the lines?

Well let me edit the script. You should have included the structure of your file in the original post...

Edit:

Here:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file_get_contents( '/dir/to/file.txt' );

$fileLines = explode( "\n", $file );
$fileLines = shuffle( $fileLines );

for ($i = 0; $i < 8 ; $i++) {
{
    $explode = explode( '|', $fileLines[$i] );
    print_r( $explode ); // You can work the rest out yourself
}

?>

---

That would take

Code:

---

http://www.google.com|Awesome Search Engine
http://www.bing.com|Not So Awesome Search Engine

---

Randomise the lines, and then explode each line into seperate arrays.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Source

Well let me edit the script. You should have included the structure of your file in the original post...

---

Yeah, sorry about that. I just thought I could keep the same explode so didn't think you needed the format.

I think my last post should now do what you want.

+rep'd you.

Struggling to make this work though. Getting PHP Notice: Undefined offset errors for the "echo" line

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file('/filehere.txt');

function explodeRows($file) {
  $list = explode("\n", $file);
  return $list;
}

shuffle($list);

for ($i = 1; $i < 8 ; $i++) {

    $explode = explode('|', $list);
    echo '<p>' . $explode[2] . ' <a href="' . $explode[0] . '">' . $explode[1] . '</a> ' . $explode[2] . '</p>';
}

?>

---

Probably because it looks nothing like the code I gave you. If the example file you showed earlier in the thread is correct then this WILL work:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file_get_contents( '/dir/to/file.txt' );

$fileLines = explode( "\n", $file );
shuffle( $fileLines );

for ($i = 0; $i < 8 ; $i++) 
{
    $explode = explode( '|', $fileLines[$i] );
    echo '<p><a href="' . $explode[0] . '">' . $explode[1] . '</a></p>';
}

?>

---

Ignor the fact I was defining the fileLines with a shuffle which was returning a bool... silly me!

http://cl.ly/ecfe725cae05c9490963

And the text file:

Code:

---

http://www.google.com|An awesome search engine
http://www.bing.com|A meh search engine
http://www.yahoo.com|A dead search engine

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Source

Probably because it looks nothing like the code I gave you. If the example file you showed earlier in the thread is correct then this WILL work:

PHP Code:

---

<?php

$file = file_get_contents( '/dir/to/file.txt' );

$fileLines = explode( "\n", $file );
shuffle( $fileLines );

for ($i = 0; $i < 8 ; $i++) 
{
    $explode = explode( '|', $fileLines[$i] );
    echo '<p><a href="' . $explode[0] . '">' . $explode[1] . '</a></p>';
}

?>

---

Ignor the fact I was defining the fileLines with a shuffle which was returning a bool... silly me!

http://cl.ly/ecfe725cae05c9490963

And the text file:

Code:

---

http://www.google.com|An awesome search engine
http://www.bing.com|A meh search engine
http://www.yahoo.com|A dead search engine

---

---

Yep, it's working great. Thanks!

With all due respect, this is what databases were developed for. Why can't you use one?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by eddiekins

With all due respect, this is what databases were developed for. Why can't you use one?

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Why would I run a whole database service when I can use text files. I don't want the extra memory usage from a database sever and adding new lines to a text file will be far easier than updating a database ;).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by N!ck

Why would I run a whole database service when I can use text files. I don't want the extra memory usage from a database sever and adding new lines to a text file will be far easier than updating a database ;).

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Sound reasoning. If you're only doing like 8 at any one time, I guess it's fair enough to use text files... :)