ID: 16681
Updated by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reported By: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Status: Open
Bug Type: Feature/Change Request
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition
PHP Version: 4.1.2
New Comment:
I have a few points to add:
1) YOU CANNOT ALWAYS CHOOSE THE STARTING FORMAT
Daniel says that instead of:
$countries = "England Spain France Italy";
we should code:
$countries = array("England", "Spain", "France", "Italy");
but it is not always so easy to start with an array. Let me give a
real world example.
I am currently writing a search engine, where the user may type
whatever they want; I want to match not just the whole search term, but
each individual word. So, if the user types "Baptist churches", I can
match "Baptist" and "churches".
// $search_string = "Baptist churches"
// Loop for the number of words in the string
for ($i=0; $i<=words($search_string); $i++) {
// Get the matches for the i-th word
get_matches(word($search_string, $i));
}
I agree that we CAN get the words using regular expressions. That
brings me to my next point.
2) IT IS NOT EASY FOR PEOPLE TO CORRECTLY USE REGULAR EXPRESSIONS TO
GET WORDS.
If you are reading this, you are probably a highly skilled PHP
programmer, able to create first time a correctly functioning regular
expression. And one which functions correctly for ALL inputs.
This example in the ereg section from the PHP documentation itself does
NOT always give the correct result:
ereg ("([[:alnum:]]+) ([[:alnum:]]+) ([[:alnum:]]+)", $string,$regs);
/* Places three space separated words
into $regs[1], $regs[2] and $regs[3]. */
For example, in my real search engine example, a user searching "C++ or
C" would be disappointed to find that I have searched for "C" or "C"!
And of course regular expressions do not use the locale.
3) THE OBJECT-ORIENTED VIEW OF STRINGS DEMANDS THE PROPOSED WORD
FUNCTIONS
It goes against OO to convert a string into an array, just because
string lacks a function (i.e. words) that array has (i.e. count). If
we view the string as an object, it is not satisfactory to say that we
can convert the object to another object type and use the functions
which exist for that object type. It is rather like saying that we do
not need an addition operator for integers because we are able to
convert integers to doubles/floats in order to add.
4) CONSISTENCY
There already exists the 'ucwords()' function, so it is accepted that a
word is a valid concept within a string.
Hugh
Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2002-04-20 08:45:12] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I notice this example in the ereg section:
ereg ("([[:alnum:]]+) ([[:alnum:]]+) ([[:alnum:]]+)", $string,$regs);
/* Places three space separated words
into $regs[1], $regs[2] and $regs[3]. */
which could become something like the following with the proposed
word() function:
$regs[1] = word($string, 1);
$regs[2] = word($string, 2);
$regs[3] = word($string, 3);
Even for hardened regular expression fans, I'm sure you would agree
which would be nicer to encounter in somebody elses uncommented code.
And I know which I'd rather place my money on as working correctly.
Hugh
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2002-04-19 04:59:54] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
This does not warrant new functions. What you are trying to do should
be done with arrays:
/**************************/
$countries = array("England", "Spain", "France", "Italy");
print "There are " . count($countries) . " countries competing";
print "The " . count($countries) . " are:";
for ($i=0; $i<count($countries); $i++) {
print $countries[$i];
}
/***************************/
if you have an input string like:
$string = "England Spain France Italy";
you can make an array of it:
$countries = preg_split("/\s+/", $string);
Still, the proposed functions look like a good addition to the language
as people do not want to study regular expressions.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2002-04-19 04:32:04] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
When I was coding the sample code with the $countries (above), I
realised that PHP also misses some other crucial functions for word
processing. These are basic word functions which I am used to having
in a powerful language.
Therefore, request changed to request words(), word(), wordindex(),
wordlength() functions.
Hugh Prior
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2002-04-19 04:28:16] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Derek,
This function is EXTREMELY useful. The words() function is to strings
what the sizeof() function is to arrays! I cannot imagine living
without the sizeof() function when dealing with arrays; if I were
dealing with strings a lot I cannot imagine living without a words()
function.
Here's some example code which shows how elegant it can make string
use:
/**************************/
$countries = "England Spain France Italy";
print "There are " . words($countries) . " countries competing";
print "The " . words($countries) . " are:";
for ($i=0; $i<=words($countries); $i++) {
print word($countries, $i);
}
/***************************/
Of course, there are many other uses, but this I hope gives a flavour
for how handy and elegant such functionality is.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2002-04-19 04:22:01] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I wish to expand this request to suggest full support for word
processing in strings. This is something which is extremely useful (it
appears for example in REXX) when processing strings.
word (str, num)
Returns the num'th word from string str. If num is greater than the
number of words in str, the null string is returned.
wordindex (str, num)
Returns the character position of the first letter of the num'th word
in string str, or 0 if num is greater than the number of characters in
str.
wordlength (str, num)
Returns the length of the num'th word in string str, or 0 if num is
greater than the number of words in str.
words (str, num)
Returns the number of words in the string str.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at
http://bugs.php.net/16681
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