Replace space by comma and pipe interchangeably

Question

I have a certain string below, as you can see, are coordinates separated only by a space. See:

-23.5209 -46.46466 -23.52008 -46.465952 -23.519253 -46.467239 -23.518808 -46.466901 -23.518738 -46.466848 -23.518411 -46.466597 -23.518349 -46.46658 -23.51834 -46.46657 -23.517974 -46.466157 -23.517879 -46.466052 -23.517859 -46.466074 -23.51733 -46.466632 -23.516765 -46.467217 -23.516693 -46.467292 -23.516206 -46.467802 -23.516169 -46.467841 -23.516179 -46.467859 -23.516229 -46.467909 -23.516329 -46.467981 -23.518096 -46.469056

Basically the first item is latitude, second is longitude and so on. I need it to stay this way below, which is the separation between latitude and longitude by comma, and between coordinate by pipe. See:

-23.5209,-46.46466|-23.52008,-46.465952|-23.519253,-46.467239|-23.518808,-46.466901|-23.518738,-46.466848 ...

What better way to do it?

Answer 1

You can try using preg_replace, something like (-[\d.]+)\s(-[\d.]+)(\s|$), outworking:

<?php

$x = '-23.5209 -46.46466 -23.52008 -46.465952 -23.519253 -46.467239 -23.518808 -46.466901 -23.518738 -46.466848 -23.518411 -46.466597 -23.518349 -46.46658 -23.51834 -46.46657 -23.517974 -46.466157 -23.517879 -46.466052 -23.517859 -46.466074 -23.51733 -46.466632 -23.516765 -46.467217 -23.516693 -46.467292 -23.516206 -46.467802 -23.516169 -46.467841 -23.516179 -46.467859 -23.516229 -46.467909 -23.516329 -46.467981 -23.518096 -46.469056';

$x = preg_replace('#(-[\d.]+)\s(-[\d.]+)(\s|$)#', '$1,$2|', $x);
$x = rtrim($x, '|'); //Remove o pipe extra no final

echo $x;

• The (-[\d.]+) looks for a number like -46.467909
• The \s(-[\d.]+)(\s|$) procuta o que vem após "primeiro" numero, troca o primeiro espaço por virgula e o segundo por pipe |, if there is no space at the end adds the pipe (which is removed by rtrim).

It will "rotate" the string all replacing, this way if replace the second space directly will not occur it pass again in the second space and accidentally add a comma.

Example in IDEONE