PHP to form string like “A, B, C, and D” from array values

Question

Given the following array:

Array
(
    [143] => Car #1
    [144] => Car #2
    [145] => Car #3
)

I am currently using this

implode(', ', array_values($car_names))

to generate a string like

Car #1, Car #2, Car #3

I would like to actually get something like

Car #1, Car #2 and Car #3

The idea would be to insert " and " between the two last elements of the array.

If the array happens to contain two key/value pairs (eg, user has 2 cars), there would be no commas.

Car #1 and Car #2

And if the array contains one key/value (eg, user has 1 car)

Car #1

Any suggestion how to get this done? I tried using array_splice but I'm not sure that's the way to go (ie, inserting a new element into the array).

Thanks for helping!

Answer 1

I think you probably want something like this, using array_pop to get the last element off the end of the array. You can then implode the rest of the array, and add the last element in a custom fashion:

$last_value = array_pop($car_names);
$output = implode(', ', array_values($car_names));
$output .= ($output ? ' and ' : '') . $last_value;

Edit: added conditional to check if the array had only one element.

Answer 2

$last = array_pop($car_names);
echo implode(', ', $car_names) . ' AND ' . $last;

Answer 3

A preg_replace can look for the last command just just swap it to an and

$yourString = preg_replace( "/, ([\w#]*)$/", "and \1", $yourString );

Answer 4

This solution is a bit longer, but tested for all array sizes and it is a complete solution. Also, it doesn't modify the array like the above answers and is separated into a function.

function arrayToString($arr) {
    $count = count($arr);
    if ($count <= 2) {
        return implode(' and ', $arr);
    }
    $result = '';
    $i = 0;
    foreach ($arr as $item) {
        if ($i) $result .= ($i == $count - 1) ? ' and ' : ', ';
        $result .= $item;
        $i++;
    }
    return $result;
}

Compacted version with ugly formatting and ignoring good practices like initializing variables:

function arrayToString($arr) {
    if (count($arr) <= 2) return implode(' and ', $arr);
    foreach ($arr as $item) {
        if ($i) $result .= ($i == count($arr) - 1) ? ' and ' : ', ';
        $result .= $item; $i++;
    }
    return $result;
}

Answer 5

I'm not sure there's a built in function for this, but something like this should work.

$last = $car_names[count($car_names)-1];
$implodedString = implode(', ', array_values($car_names))
$implodedString = str_replace(", $last", "and $last", $implodedString);

Answer 6

That's an example with the functions named in my comment above:

1. strrpos() - Find the position of the last occurrence of a substring in a string
2. substr() - Return part of a string

and the code:

$text = implode(', ', array_values($car_names));
$last = strrpos($text, ',');
if ($last) $text = substr($text, 0, $last-1) . ' AND ' . substr($text, $last+1);
echo $text;

Answer 7

There are a number of ways you could do this. Here's another.

<?php
$cars = array('Car #1', 'Car #2', 'Car #3', 'Car #4');
$car = array('Car #1');
$twocars = array('Car #1', 'Car #2');

function arrayToText($arr) {
    switch (count($arr)) {
    case 1:
        return $arr[0];
        break;
    case 2:
        return implode($arr, ' and ');
        break;
    default:
        $last = array_pop($arr);
        return implode($arr, ', ') . ' and ' . $last;
        break;
    }
}

echo '<p>' . arrayToText($cars) . "</p>\n";
echo '<p>' . arrayToText($twocars) . "</p>\n";
echo '<p>' . arrayToText($car) . "</p>\n";

Output

<p>Car #1, Car #2, Car #3 and Array</p>
<p>Car #1 and Car #2</p>
<p>Car #1</p>