Question

I have an array that has 22 items in it (it may also have 7, 10 or 11 items in it)

Old, crappy example: $anArray = array(1=>’A’,2=>’B’,3=>’C’,4=>’D’,5=>’E’,6=>’F’,7=>’G’,8=>’H’,9=>’I’);

Better example:

Array(
[25] => #
[50] => #
[53] => #
[55] => #
[56] => #
[57] => #
[58] => #
[59] => #
[60] => #
[61] => #
[62] => #
[63] => #
[64] => #
[65] => #
[66] => #
[67] => #
[68] => #
[69] => #
[70] => #
[71] => #
[72] => #
[73] => #)

I also have three variables:

$A='A'; $B='B'; $C='C';

I need change the first 1/3(*ish) of the items in the array from what they are to $A
…the 2nd third to $B
…and the final third to $C

Old, crappy example:Array([1]=>A [2]=>A [3]=>A [4]=>B [5]=>B [6]=>B [7]=>C [8]=>C [9]=>C)

Better example:

Array(
[25] => A
[50] => A
[53] => A
[55] => A
[56] => A
[57] => A
[58] => A
[59] => B
[60] => B
[61] => B
[62] => B
[63] => B
[64] => B
[65] => B
[66] => B
[67] => C
[68] => C
[69] => C
[70] => C
[71] => C
[72] => C
[73] => C)

Is there an easy and straight-forward way of doing this? Right now I’m doing lots of foreach with counters, etc… and it seems like to much work.

Also…The keys cannot change…sorry.

*By ish I mean about a third – 7-8-7 or 7-7-8 would work fine

Answer 1

$c = intval(count($ary) / 3);

$result = 
    array_fill(1, $c, 'A') + 
    array_fill($c + 1, $c, 'B') + 
    array_fill($c * 2 + 1, $c, 'C');

ok, with the keys preserved

$ary = array(11=>'A',22=>'B',33=>'C',44=>'D',55=>'E',66=>'F',77=>'G',88=>'H',99=>'I',123=>'x',456=>'y',); 

$cc = count($ary);
$c1 = intval($cc / 3);
$c2 = intval(($cc - $c1) / 2);
$c3 = $cc - ($c1 + $c2);

$result = array_combine(
    array_keys($ary),
    array_fill(0, $c1, 'A') + 
    array_fill($c1, $c2, 'B') + 
    array_fill($c1 + $c2, $c3, 'C'));

print_r($result);