Question

trying to get two word phrases from an array but I keep getting one word phrases with a white space either before or after the word.

$text = preg_replace(array('/\s{2,}/', '/[\t\n]/'), ' ', $text);
$textarray = explode(" ", $text);
array_filter($textarray);
$textCount = array_count_values($textarray);
arsort($textCount);
$twoWords = array();
for ($i = 0; $i<=count($textarray); ++$i) {
    if ($textarray[$i]<>"  ") {
        $twoWords[$i] = $textarray[$i]." ".$textarray[$i + 1];
    } else {
        $twoWords[$i] = "blah";
    }
}
foreach ($twoWordsCount as $tey => $val2) {
    if ($tey == null || $tey == "" || $tey == "\r\n"  || $tey == "\t"  || $tey == "\r"  || $tey == "\n" || $tey == "&nbsp;" || $tey == "  " || $tey == " ") {
        //do nothing
    } else {
        echo $val2."\n";
    }
}

and for some reason this just returns values likes whitespace Hello or Test and then a whitespace, but I want it to return hello test

Answer 1

No idea what the second half of the script is supposed to do but the first part can be reduced to one preg_split() line of code

<?php
foreach( array('hello world', ' hello world', 'hello world ', '  hello     world     ') as $input ) {
    $w = preg_split('!\s+!', $input, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
    var_dump($w);
}

prints

array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(5) "hello"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "world"
}
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(5) "hello"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "world"
}
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(5) "hello"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "world"
}
array(2) {
  [0]=>
  string(5) "hello"
  [1]=>
  string(5) "world"
}

edit: maybe you’re looking for something like this

<?php
$input = getData();
$w = preg_split('![\s[:punct:]]+!', $input, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
$w = array_count_values($w);
arsort($w);
$ci = new CachingIterator( new ArrayIterator( $w ) );
foreach( $ci as $next=>$cnt ) {
    printf("%s(%d) %s(%d)\n",
        $next, $cnt,
        $ci->getInnerIterator()->key(), $ci->getInnerIterator()->current()
    );
}


function getData() {
    return <<< eot
Mary had a little lamb,
whose fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went,
the lamb was sure to go.

It followed her to school one day
which was against the rules.

It made the children laugh and play,
to see a lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out,
but still it lingered near,

And waited patiently about,
till Mary did appear.

"Why does the lamb love Mary so?"
the eager children cry.

"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know."
 the teacher did reply.
eot;
}

which prints

the(8) lamb(5)
lamb(5) Mary(5)
Mary(5) was(3)
was(3) And(3)
And(3) to(3)
to(3) It(2)
It(2) school(2)
school(2) so(2)
so(2) Why(2)
Why(2) did(2)
did(2) it(2)
it(2) teacher(2)
teacher(2) children(2)
children(2) a(2)
a(2) waited(1)
waited(1) patiently(1)
patiently(1) about(1)
about(1) till(1)
[...]
white(1) went(1)
went(1) (0)

see http://docs.php.net/class.cachingiterator