BetterPHP

How do I insert an array into a database? Lets say I want to have tags for posts. How should I go about this? Should I just have it insert
[syntax=text]array('tag', 'foo', 'foobar');[/syntax]
or is there some other magical thing I can do?

Also, I could probably figure this out on my own but, how do I divide tags up? If I had a textbox with
[syntax=text]foo, tag, foobar, steve, bob, fred[/syntax]
Then how do I insert that into an array?

You use the explode() function to create an array from a comma separated list.
http://php.net/manual/en/function.explode.php

There are many different methods of getting the array in your database. You could insert is a string using implode()
http://php.net/manual/en/function.implode.php

or you could create a foreach loop and run a query for every tag? ( not very effective, performance wise, but it works )

[syntax=php]foreach($tags as $tag){
insert into `tags` $tag;
}[/syntax]

The third option would not work... I would be trying for something like
[syntax=text]post_title post_id post_body post_tags[/syntax]

Ooh I could just insert the comma separated tags into the database and when search or outputting, I could just explode it

FrederickGeek8 wrote:Ooh I could just insert the comma separated tags into the database and when search or outputting, I could just explode it

yes.

There are also the serialize() and unserialize() functions

[syntax=php]$some_array = array(1, 2, 3);[/syntax]
if you do

[syntax=php]$string = serialize($some_array);[/syntax]
$string is now an encoded version of the array $some_array that you can store easily, to get back to the original array you use the opposite function

[syntax=php]$some_array = unserialize($string);[/syntax]

The explode method would work fine too but this is a bit more robust, it won't break if one of your values has a comma in it.

jacek wrote:There are also the serialize() and unserialize() functions

[syntax=php]$some_array = array(1, 2, 3);[/syntax]
if you do

[syntax=php]$string = serialize($some_array);[/syntax]
$string is not an encoded version of the array $some_array that you can store easily, to get back to the original array you use the opposite function

[syntax=php]$some_array = unserialize($string);[/syntax]

The explode method would work fine too but this is a bit more robust, it won't break if one of your values has a comma in it.

Ooh this seems nice :3 thanks!