Question

I am using the jquery plugin Datables and I am using the php processing file to do filtering. I have already modified the code to allow for multiple keywords.but if I input a space as a starting char I get a JSON error is it possible to ignore this error without having to click ok? or is there a way to modify the php to allow spaces to start.

thanks

heres some code:

 $sWhere = "";
    if ( $_GET['sSearch'] != "")
    {
            $aWords = preg_split('/\s+/', $_GET['sSearch']);
            $sWhere = "WHERE (";

            for ( $j=0 ; $j<count($aWords) ; $j++ )
            {
                    if ( $aWords[$j] != "" )
                    {
                            if(substr($aWords[$j], 0, 1) == "!"){
                                    $notString = substr($aWords[$j], 1);
                                    $sWhere .= "(";
                                    for ( $i=0 ; $i<count($aColumns) ; $i++ ) {
                                            $sWhere .= $aColumns[$i]." NOT LIKE '%".mysql_real_escape_string( $notString )."%' AND ";
                                    }
                                    $sWhere = substr_replace( $sWhere, "", -4 );
                            }
                            else{
                                    $sWhere .= "(";
                                    for ( $i=0 ; $i<count($aColumns) ; $i++ ) {
                                            $sWhere .= $aColumns[$i]." LIKE '%".mysql_real_escape_string( $aWords[$j] )."%' OR ";
                                    }
                                    $sWhere = substr_replace( $sWhere, "", -3 );
                            }
                            $sWhere .= ") AND ";
                    }
            }

Answer 1

Your problem is with preg_split() operating on a single-space string:

$e = preg_split('/\s+/', " ");
print_r($e);

Splitting a single space will return an array of two blank strings. Change the first lines to this:

$term = trim($_GET['sSearch']);
if ( $term != "")
{
        $aWords = preg_split('/\s+/', $term);

This way, you don’t try and run the code with a basically blank string.