php remove "empty" values in array

Question

I'm trying to clean an array from empty values by using the following function:

function remove_empty_cells($data)
{
    $findthis = array("/\r\n/u", "/\n/u", "/\r/u", "/\s+/u", "~\x{00a0}~");
    for($i=0; $i<count($data); $i++)
    {
        $data[$i] = preg_replace($findthis, " ", $data[$i]);
        $data[$i] = htmlspecialchars_decode(htmlspecialchars($data[$i], ENT_SUBSTITUTE, 'UTF-8'));
        if (empty($data[$i]) ||
            mb_strlen($data[$i]) < strlen($data[$i]) ||
            is_null($data[$i]) ||
            $data[$i] = " " ||
            $data[$i] = "" ||
            $data[$i] == "0")
        {
             array_splice($data, $i, 1);
        };//end if
    };//end for
    return $data;
};//end func

The empty values don't go away, I fail to identify them..

the data:

array (
  0 => '
',
  1 => 'BEGIN:VCARD 
',
  2 => '
',
  3 => '
',
  4 => '
',
  5 => '
',
  6 => '
',
  7 => 'VERSION:2.1 
',

... might be some encoding problem or something.. it doesnt look like multibyte characters.. the result i get is:

array (
  0 => 'BEGIN:VCARD 
',
  1 => '
',
  2 => '
',
  3 => 'VERSION:2.1 
',

...

yes, the trim worked, thanks for pointing it out. marked as answered. simple array_filter had no effect. — Leo Tahk
– Leo Tahk, Commented Mar 25, 2017 at 19:13

Shakti Phartiyal · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-25 18:53:38Z

You can use the PHP function array_filter() to remove the empty values

<?php
$array = array("sampe1", "", "sample2", null, "sample4", "rajesh", "suresh", "test", "");
var_dump($array);
echo "<hr/>";
$result = array_filter($array);                 
var_dump($result);
?>

This will print out:

array(9) { [0]=> string(6) "sampe1" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> string(7) "sample2" [3]=> NULL [4]=> string(7) "sample4" [5]=> string(6) "rajesh" [6]=> string(6) "suresh" [7]=> string(4) "test" [8]=> string(0) "" }

array(6) { [0]=> string(6) "sampe1" [2]=> string(7) "sample2" [4]=> string(7) "sample4" [5]=> string(6) "rajesh" [6]=> string(6) "suresh" [7]=> string(4) "test"

Sachin PATIL · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-25 19:05:15Z

You can use the PHP function array_filter() to remove the empty values with callback function as below

<?php
    $array = array("sampe1", "\n  ", "   ", "sample2", null, "sample4", "rajesh", "suresh", "test", "");

    $result = array_filter($array, function($v){
       return trim($v);
    });

    var_dump($result);

    $res = array_slice($result);

    var_dump($res);
?>

This will print out:

array(6) { [0]=> string(6) "sampe1" [3]=> string(7) "sample2" [5]=> string(7) "sample4" [6]=> string(6) "rajesh" [7]=> string(6) "suresh" [8]=> string(4) "test" }

array(6) { [0]=> string(6) "sampe1" [1]=> string(7) "sample2" [2]=> string(7) "sample4" [3]=> string(6) "rajesh" [4]=> string(6) "suresh" [5]=> string(4) "test" }

SYNTAX - array array_filter ( array $array [, callable $callback [, int $flag = 0 ]] )

Asad Mahmood · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-25 18:42:01Z

2

Not very sure what you did in that code of yours but here is something that can remove empty elements from a php array

Code Snippet

<?php
   $array = array("apple", "", 2, null, -5, "orange", 10, false, "");
   var_dump($array);
   echo "<br>";

   // Filtering the array
   $result = array_filter($array);                 
   var_dump($result);
?>

answered Mar 25, 2017 at 18:42

Asad Mahmood

1741 silver badge12 bronze badges

1 Comment

u_mulder Over a year ago

I suppose this will not remove values like "\n\n" or "\r\n"

Sylvester · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-25 19:29:30Z

Removing empty array slots in PHP, leaving holes in the array.

A quick way to remove empty elements from an array is using array_filter without a callback function. This will also remove 0s (zeroes) though.

$myArray = array_filter( $myArray );

Alternatively, array_diff allows you to decide which elements to keep. The following example will only remove empty strings, but keep 0

$myArray = array_diff( $myArray, array( '' ) );

Removing empty array slots in PHP, and compacting the array.

Both functions leave ‘gaps’ where the empty entries used to be. You can see it below, where the indices are [1] and [3] and not [0] and [1].

$myArray = array( 0, 'red', '', 'blue' ); print_r( array_filter( $myArray ) ); Array ( [1] => 'red' [3] => 'blue' )

print_r( array_diff( $myArray, array( '' ) ) ); Array ( [0] => 0 [1] => 'red' [3] => 'blue' )

array_slice can remove those gaps:

$myArray = array( 0, 'red', '', 'blue' ); $myArray = array_filter( $myArray ); print_r( array_slice( $myArray, 0 ) ); Array ( [0] => 'red' [1] => 'blue' )

so now for your cas, Example

$arr = ['','BEGIN:VCARD','','','','','','VERSION:2.1']; //initial array print_r($arr); $myArray = array_filter( $arr ); print_r( array_slice( $myArray, 0 ) );

inital output:

Array ( [0] => [1] => BEGIN:VCARD [2] => [3] => [4] => [5] => [6] => [7] => VERSION:2.1 )

final ouput :

Array ( [0] => BEGIN:VCARD [1] => VERSION:2.1 )

i just used $fileContents = array_filter( $fileContents ); print_r( array_slice( $fileContents, 0 ) ); the result is: Array ( [0] => [1] => BEGIN:VCARD [2] => [3] => [4] => [5] => [6] => [7] => VERSION:2.1 .. not removed :/
$arr = ['','BEGIN:VCARD','','','','','','VERSION:2.1']; NEXT: print_r($arr); $myArray = array_filter( $arr ); print_r( array_slice( $myArray, 0 ) ); inital output: Array ( [0] => [1] => BEGIN:VCARD [2] => [3] => [4] => [5] => [6] => [7] => VERSION:2.1 ) final ouput : Array ( [0] => BEGIN:VCARD [1] => VERSION:2.1 )
the working version for my data is: $array= array_filter($array, function($v){return trim($v);}); $array= array_slice($array, 0 , count($array));

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