Question

I have a array which contains values like this

See below for script sample

Suppose this is in a variable $Output_Data

I want to apply certain function on this $Output_Data listed below

1. Remove Duplicate VALUE also associating KEY (but must keep one)
   i know this can be achieved by function array_unique but how to delete the array key

2. If img exist than put it in a variable adding img tag example

   if exist img key in output data (or flv or mp4)
       $output_img[] = '<a href="$Output_Data[img]">Image "$i"</a>';
   

   Like this for every key i mean FLV, MP4, IMG

3. Output to user screen Now again we created new Array separating the data

   $output_img[] 
   $output_flv[] 
   $output_mp4[]
   

So if the array contains data than output it to user screen…(here also check if they exist or empty)

I am not a pro in this thing i just want to add a feature to my website and i hate array a lot but it is the only thing that will help me.

You can also mention a Alternative Solution for this… Because it is just my thought not a Necessity.

Sorry for wrong code here is a sample script

function sortoutput($data_to_sort,$key_explode_char) {   
 $output_content = array();
    foreach (explode(PHP_EOL, $data_to_sort) as $cLine) { 
        list ($cKey, $cValue) = explode($key_explode_char, $cLine, 2); 
        $output_content[$cKey] = $cValue;
    }
    return $output_content;
    }
                    ob_start();
                            $flv = 'http://example.com/example.flv';
                            $flv2 = 'http://example.com/example2.flv';
                             $img = 'http://example.com/my.jpg';
                            $mp4 = 'http://example.com/okay.mp4';
                            print 'flv=`'.$flv.PHP_EOL;
                            print 'flv=`'.$flv2.PHP_EOL;
                            print 'img=`'.$img.PHP_EOL;
                            print 'mp4=`'.$mp4;
                            $Output_Download_Link = ob_get_contents();
                             ob_end_clean();


                            echo $Output_Download_Link;
                            $Sorted_Output_Links = sortoutput($Output_Download_Link, '=`');

                             echo '<pre>';
                            print_r($Sorted_Output_Links);
                            echo '</pre>';

Answer 1

You have to switch keys and values. A key is always unique! You can’t have two or more entries with the same key name (except using a 2-dimensional array…).

After this you can get the keys of an array with array_keys() and use array_unique()

$array = array('url1' => 'flv', 'url2' => 'flv', 'url3' => 'png');
$keys = array_keys($array); //all urls
$keys = array_unique($keys); //remove url duplicates
$output = array( //all extensions which should be stored in array
    'flv' => array(),
    'png' => array(),
    'mp4' => array(),
);

foreach($keys as $url) {
    $extension = $array[$url];
    if(isset($output[$extension])) {
        $id = count($output[$extension]) + 1;
        $output[$extension][] = "<a href=\"".$url."\">Image #".$id."</a>";
    }
}

foreach($output as $o) {
    //Output all arrays which aren't empty
    if(!empty($o)) {
        $o = implode('', $o);
        echo $o.'<hr />';
    }
}

A better way would be if you get the extension from the link directly using substr() and strrpos().

Than you can check whether $output[$extension] exists and create first an empty array() on $output[$extension]. This way you are more flexible with the extensions…

Edit: After you added a correct example…

You have to change this line: $output_content[$cKey] = $cValue;

//OLD: $output_content[$cKey] = $cValue;
//NEW:
if(!isset($output_content[$cKey])) {
    $output_content[$cKey] = array();
}
$output_content[$cKey][] = "<a href=\"".$cValue."\">".$cValue."</a>";

And then you can check every entry of $output_content whether it is empty or not and output it. (have a look at the my first example above)