Removing extra commas when echoing out imploded array after $_POST

Question

I have an array with 100 or so items in it. I'm pulling from a huge checklist in a form. The items the user checks off are displayed on the next page after submission.

I have the items displaying, but there are several commas populating the page as well. No doubt from the variables that remained unfilled.

Here are a couple of code snippets to give you the general idea:

<!-- Front Underspoiler --> <input type="checkbox" id="frontUnderspoiler" name="frontUnderspoiler" value="Front Underspoiler"> Front Underspoiler <br> <br> <!-- Bumper Corner Moldings --> <input type="checkbox" id="bumperCornerMoldings" name="bumperCornerMoldings" value="Bumper Corner Moldings"> Bumper Corner Moldings <br> <br> <!-- Bumper Corner Molding-(2 PC) --> <input type="checkbox" id="bumperCornerMoldingTwoPc" name="bumperCornerMoldingTwoPc" value="Bumper Corner Molding-(2 PC)"> Bumper Corner Molding-(2 PC) <br> <br>

This is how the form is structured for each item. When the form is submitted the user is redirected to the next page. Here's how my $_POST and array are set up:

// ACCESSORIES $allWeatherFloorMats = trim($_POST["allWeatherFloorMats"]); $oneTenPowerOutlet = trim($_POST["oneTenPowerOutlet"]); $frontLicPlateBrack = trim($_POST["frontLicPlateBrack"]); $ashTray = trim($_POST["ashTray"]); $ashTrayMountingSleeve = trim($_POST["ashTrayMountingSleeve"]); $cigaretteLighter = trim($_POST["cigaretteLighter"]); $sideSillPlates = trim($_POST["sideSillPlates"]);

Bringing the the data in structured into an array:

$accessoriesArray = array( '1' => $allWeatherFloorMats, '2' => $oneTenPowerOutlet, '3' => $frontLicPlateBrack, '4' => $ashTray, '5' => $ashTrayMountingSleeve, '6' => $cigaretteLighter, '7' => $sideSillPlates, '8' => $frontSideSillPlate, '9' => $strakeKit);

The last bit in the body of the page that echos the array with commas:

<?php echo implode(',',$accessoriesArray); ?>

Here's what I'm receiving:

Your Vehicle Includes ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Rear Bumper Applique,,,Side Window Deflectors,,,,,,,,,,,,Bumper Bib,,,Sunshade,,Sport Grille Gunmetal Trim,,,,,,,,,,,,,Tweeter Kit,,,,,,Footwell Illumination Kit- Blue,,,Exterior Auto-Dimming for Blind Spot Detection,,,,,,,,Alloy Wheels,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,STI Carbon Fiber Trunk Trim,,,,.

Is there a way to remove the items in the array that are causing the commas to appear prior to me echoing out the result? Thanks for taking a the time to check this out. I'm relatively new to PHP. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

before imploding you can remove the empty values with array_filter() — Mm-Art-In
– Mm-Art-In, Commented May 11, 2016 at 19:56
Or you can tidy up the output string with str_replace(",,",",",$var) which will work from left to right and will shrink any double comma appearances without whitespace breaks to being a single comma. — Mm-Art-In
– Mm-Art-In, Commented May 11, 2016 at 19:57
If you only need the values to display them on the other page you should probably change your strategy. Use a name like accessories[]. After submit you can loop over them as any other array using foreach $_POST['accessories'] to perform the trim, then output them with implode — RST
– RST, Commented May 11, 2016 at 20:05

lampyridae · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 19:56:52Z

<?php echo implode(',', array_filter($accessoriesArray)); ?>

When array_filter is called without a second argument, all entries of array equal to FALSE will be removed. (The empty string converts to FALSE.)

AbraCadaver · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 20:07:33Z

You have answers with array_filter(), however I would say that your code is needlessly complex. I would structure the checkboxes as a data array like so:

name="data[]" value="Front Underspoiler" name="data[]" value="Bumper Corner Moldings" etc...

Then you only get the checked ones in the data array:

$accessoriesArray = $_POST['data'];

If needed to trim then:

$accessoriesArray = array_map('trim', $_POST['data']);

Sven · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 19:59:31Z

You can use array_filter() and give that your array and a function that gets every single element passed and should decide whether this element belongs to the final array or not by returning either true or false.

That function can either be a name of a function as a string, or an anonymous function (and any other "callable" pointer to a function or class method).

$largeArray = [...]; $outputArray = array_filter($largeArray, function($element) { if (empty($element)) { return false; } return true; }); echo implode(',', $outputArray);

Your anonymous function does the exact same thing that array_filter() does with no callback.
I think that's ok because I have the feeling that this example is describing the approach in a more general way for people being new to PHP. You can easily tweak that function once you know how to add anonymous functions and pass them parameters. Simply calling array_filter and using default behaviour is the smart thing for experienced developers to do if the default is what they need. It's useless as an example for beginners.

Pedro Lobito · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 20:00:21Z

Looks like you have some empty values. So you can do this:

implode(',', array_filter($accessarray));

This will strip off all empty values see here for further referece: http://php.net/manual/en/function.array-filter.php

Maxim Tkach · Accepted Answer · 2016-05-11 20:15:04Z

array_filter - excelent idea. But this is bad code:

$accessoriesArray = array( '1' => $allWeatherFloorMats, '2' => $oneTenPowerOutlet, '3' => $frontLicPlateBrack, '4' => $ashTray, '5' => $ashTrayMountingSleeve, '6' => $cigaretteLighter, '7' => $sideSillPlates, '8' => $frontSideSillPlate, '9' => $strakeKit,);

you have array, and you have this array. You need filter $_POST and ignore empty.

$result = []; $keys = [ 'allWeatherFloorMats', 'oneTenPowerOutlet', 'frontLicPlateBrack', 'ashTray', 'ashTrayMountingSleeve', 'cigaretteLighter', 'sideSillPlates', ]; foreach($keys as $key) { if(isset($_POST[$key])) { $_POST[$key] = trim($_POST[$key]); if(!empty($_POST[$key])) { $result[$key] = $_POST[$key]; } } } echo implode(',', $_POST);

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